Game of Thrones the wheel spins
by flaming hunter
Summary: Something has arrived and with it, an unstoppable change
1. Chapter 1

Tywin Lannister looked at the document in front of him and smiled, it wasn't a smile filled with joy, nor was it one with any hint of malice, then if he did have good reason to have it.

No Tywin instead smiled as he saw what other would certainly not. In his hands, he held a set of peaches no one else had.

He felt his lips form a smile perhaps wider than anyone had seen before and remembered the events that had occurred just a few days prior.

A messenger had arrived saying that an island had mysteriously appeared out of thin air, Tywin nearly had the man executed for trying to make a fool out of him, however, he chose not to, considering he could see the islands from where he stood.

In reality, Tywin was hesitant to even call it an island, for they looked more like a mountain than anything else.

Not one to take unneeded risks, Tywin ordered for a small scout team to be sent in and investigate, the men didn't even last till sundown when they returned bringing word that there were several children dressed as knights living on the islands.

He had ordered the men not to attack, at least not until he gave the order after all mountains don't, just show up out of nowhere.

So for an entire day, his men observed and when they returned they spoke of several adults fortifying small towns making sure they could resist attacks. It wasn't long until a small boat left the island and made contact with him.

A fat man, wearing a white armor with a red cross painted on it, requested an audience with him, accompanying him were a young man dressed in a strange set of clothes all colored black, in fact, even the young man's hair was black as well as his eyes.

The other one was dressed in a dark blue armor, that was built more for receiving attacks rather than giving them, yet no matter the size or how thick the armor was, the man walked with no hint of it even bothering him.

The man spoke in a strange yet familiar way and offered a trade, as wells a peace treaty, a simple yet frustrating one.

No one enters the island unless escorted or else risk starting a war, the same went for the people of the island, they could not place their feet on Westeros land unless escorted.

Tywin smirked at this and simply said. Bring me something that can feed not one but several villages and I will accept your offer for trade, the rest we will have to work out."

Another day passed and a massive boar, nearly the size of Tywins own castle was pulled out of the island, moved by a raff made of tree trunks and presented to him.

The fat man's arrogant smile spoke volumes, the pig's body was cut and given hungry masses. There was no way Tywin would eat any of it, not until the meat was tested by someone else.

Still, the fat man had fulfilled his part and a trade deal was made a simple yet effective one. No one sold anything unless it was inspected and approved, as for the peace treaty, it was practically covered under the trade deal, so Tywin wrote it down and signed it, the fat man did the same and sighed his own name.

Now if somehow the little people found out that there was a lot of food, in that mountain and chose to swim to it, how could he and his men be to blame, after all, no one under his house or serving it had touched the mountain, unescorted. So if those people were sick and provoked a plague, that was their problem.

Still, Tywin Lannister smirked, the island was located in an area few ever went, not even patrols went in that area, that would change now, however it would take a while for people to know about the mountains so he had time to think of what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

[Speech change Kirito]

The wind touched my hair as I ran and landed the finishing blow on a goblin that tried to escape, it had taken a little getting used to the sight of blood and knowing that monsters didn't just vanish anymore. Oddly enough the gold coins that always seemed to show up still appeared, floating just slightly above the monster corpse.

Aincead had somehow been forced to land near the edge of a kingdom whose name I honestly can not remember at the moment.

It had been a surprise when the people on the first floor sent out a warning saying that they were being invaded, those few boys- girls and few adults held off the invasion for as long as they could, but when it was all said and done few of them could muster the courage to kill another person.

So little by little despite their best efforts, they were starting to lose the fight.

This changed when nearly all of the higher level players arrived to defend the first floor, the enemy turned out to be a closely gathered group of lizardmen and bandits that showed up from time to a time when a player moved freely within the floors.

However, none of them ever attacked any of the villages or towns before.

After dealing with the problem the higher level guilds made a decision that soon proved invaluable, the various towns and villages regardless of their size were to be fortified in case of any other attacks. It soon proved to be the correct decision when various dragons migrated from one of the bottom floors to those above.

Soon scouts sent word that a group of knights had been watching them fortify several of the villages near the edge of the flying castle.

Daizen the coin master of the Knight of the Blood, volunteered to act as the voice for the people and initiate the first contact, I was chosen to act as an attack dog if for no other reason that I could cut down or disarm anyone that tried to hurt them. A member of the Blue frontier was chosen for his nearly impenetrable defense, the man was a tank in the truest form.

The meeting went well and even with the Lord's no-nonsense character an agreement was made, we don't step on your land, you don't step on ours unless we both agree.

That had been nearly a week ago and in that time several things had been learned, one the N.P.C's were no longer unfeeling machines, no they acted as regular people simply trying to live their lives.

They laughed - cried and even held funerals when someone passed away, we also learned that we no longer had to fight most monsters, simply giving them a wide breath was enough for some of them to leave us alone.

Due to the fact that Aincrad didn't have any kings or real leaders besides the various mayors -farmers that owned their own land and the few building salesmen, most of the n.p.c's began to look to us for guidance and to help when things became difficult.

This fact only set in when the various guilds or by the very least a single player decided to live somewhere, the people would either hear about it and begin to live near the area the players were located.

In a few occasions, some of them even went as far to say that the lands themselves belonged to one guild or another.

Still even as I whip the blood off my sword and look at the field that now glows red, with the blood of the goblin village, I could help but smile, Asuna was preparing a something special. It was a recipe she learned from a woman in one of the nearby villages.


	3. Chapter 3

Communication had become an absolute must and it didn't matter if you didn't like someone. If that person had valuable information that could save your teams life, you were expected to suck it up and speak to the person.

For this reason, guilds would send in their best and worst to go clear out monster strongholds or villages whenever they were found, if the monsters were weak then a loosely gathered group of people that had never worked together, this was meant to help the guilds gather experience and learn to be flexible, as well as helping build trust between them all.

However, if the monster was high enough level or its numbers were too great an execution team made up of the strongest players was sent in, people started calling the loosely made up group, as the Elite.

To put it simply there are people that reach the top of a game, then there are the people that stand clear above everyone else, the ones whose names everyone knows about. Yeah, those are the Elite.

Not all of them are guild or team leaders, some are in fact subordinates or even solo players that prefer to be left alone, whatever the case just having one in a mission made moral skyrocket.

I finally made it back home and even before I opened the door, I could hear Asuna humming to herself, no to call it humming was putting it lightly. The girl had a tendency to start singing without realizing it.

When I opened the door I found Yui, laying on her stomach joyfully coloring in some pictures from a coloring book she got, from who knows where.

"Lunch will be ready in a few minutes!" Asuna said from the kitchen, so I decided to sit back and read about the events of the day.

Aincrad did have a newspaper and it was quickly becoming a growing business, with every village that was strengthened, came a new batch of information.

Looking recipes for those that wanted to try cooking something new -hot spots where monsters lived - someone had gained a special armor no one else had and so on.

In fact, several businesses had sprung up and each was growing at a rapid pace.

After a floor boss was defeated, people could travel between floors. This allowed trade between the cities, an industry thatt grew rapidly.

Ice was traded from one of the frozen regions, for warm furs and heating materials, whether those materials were actual heaters -firewood or something else didn't matter. Water was traded with one of the desert regions for the diamonds they had and so on.

Of course, this was mostly visible in areas where large towns could be found, or most commonly in the few cities. Villages and small towns did trade with each other, but that was rare.

Of course, with everything good comes something bad and so it wasn't uncommon to find monsters that were normally found on higher floors now setting up their territories in lower ones.

This made a strange event happen, for when the floor bosses did slowdown the amount of people passed , they didn't do the same for monsters. So the monsters that did make it thru, were either the strongest or the lucky ones that managed to run away, while the others were killed off.

Water and other necessities weren't a problem as the flying castle's, plumbing still worked.

Still, despite all of this, people were starting to get used to their new lives. The higher floors still needed to be cleared, if not to be able to go back, if there was even a way to go back, but for the very least make sure that some overpowered monstrosity, leading lesser monsters in an outright kill everything fashion, never happened.

So as Asuna tapped on my shoulder pointing to the table with pie, that smelled like it was made of freshly cooked meat, so rounded by several kinds of salads, I couldn't help but smile. Yeah, life was good.

[Speech change. Tywin Lannister ]

Tywin looked at his work and was pleased with it, it was a simple thing but an effective one none the less. His work was composed of everything from what it would cost, to the number of men required and even to what people he could spare.

The plan was simple yet it worked for both the short term as well as the longterm depending on how things went

The little people at least the more useless ones would be gathered and taken to the area where the mountain had appeared, they were to settle and live in the area. This was not something they could say no to and if they did... No, they wouldn't say no, no matter what.

The group would be made of beggars- whores- sick- injured, those that never seemed to eat or bath for that matter and every criminal that was found. They would be those peoples problem soon enough.

The group may paint him as an incompetent leader, but a simple act that showed his forces were already stretched thin, helping suppress something or in a war, made such thoughts completely wrong, as things such as this were common things during wartime.

Should the newcomers help, by starting a trade, it would be a double-edged sword, for he could tax any imports and exports. Of course, they could do the same, but that was the beauty of it any attempts to help the sick and injured, had to be done on their side, for if they so much as repped on Lannister land, it would be considered an invasion.

An invasion that demanded retaliation, even if this invasion had been by a simple child.

The men he would sent out would be those that had visions of grandeur, weren't too trustworthy or simply wanted to prove themselves useful, no one that would be missed.

Yet Lannister land didn't hold that many people that fit the role, contrary to popular belief, Lannisters believe that keeping the slaves comfortable was a better than having a servant poison your food.

So he had to look elsewhere in order for this to spill over and cause a change, because from what his men reported the newcomers didn't even care about the mainland.

So he turned to kings landing and smirked, if there was a place so poisoned with humanities stupidity and greed, it was the place where the little people lived.


	4. Chapter 4

The question was how to move the number of people needed.

Kings Landing was a place filled with vipers and rats each sneaking and watching for a chance to attack. There wouldn't be a move done by him that wouldn't catch someone else eye, but to think of something like that at the moment was both pointless and a waste of energy.

He had enough people to start a village, but not maintain one. There lied the problem, even if this new town-village or whatever it became in the future was meaningless, it nonetheless was an investment.

A short one, but an investment nonetheless.

Cow shit could be used a fertilizer, for crops that would eventually feed his people and more importantly himself.

Just like the cow shit, these people were a resource that useless on their own, yes, but when combined with something else, they were useful. That simple fact meant they could not simply be wasted.

But how to do it, he had the lowest of the low, in his domain and some would be thieves from here and there that got a little too bold for their own good. The minor lords had provided what they had and so on.

But he needed people that were both vulnerable and could be molded into obedience or teach others. For a moment Tywin felt a hint of doubt, but just as quickly ad the feeling came, it went away, things needed to be done and there was no place for doubts.

The elderly were a far cry from anything physically useful, but they knew how to work the lands and heard the animals and children were needed to secure the next generation. But anyone from the age of ten and up was already being used to keep the lands and so forth.

No, they needed to be younger, those that had mothers, needed to the sons and daughters of whores and people that wouldn't be missed.

 _"Its hard to believe, what one can miss when he concentrates only on his own land."_ Tywin thought to himself as he wrote down what kinds of people he would need.

For a moment he wondered if he needed to gather a few more men, if not young, than reaching their older years. But he discarded the thought, should he strengthen the new land far too much, then there was a risk of an insurrection springing up.

Admittedly the same could be said with the presence of the strangers, but he was confident his men could handle an attack by them. However, to have to fight an enemy from the outside, while putting one from within down.

Was not just foolish, it was profoundly stupid.

He himself had employed such a method once, so he knew the outcome that such an act of arrogance led to.

No, his men and the ones that would be gathered would have to do, women always gathered around men, when times became difficult. That was their nature and to deny it was beyond stupid, to deny it meant that woman's death or worse.

Still, Tywin felt his mind begin to turn yo other things. Primarily food and goods, whatever those goods were. His own master of the coin could provide his own insight, but with ought a true understanding of the newcomer's abilities, whatever insight the man could provide was minimal at best.

No, he knew he had to rely on what he knew so far, which was almost nothing, but what he did know was enough for now.

The fact that the fat man had come and offered peace and willingly traded such a beast just to secure it, mean that the newcomers had both the resources available to them, to squander such an abundant amount of food.

The fact that they had been seen fortifying their town, meant that there were indeed problems in that mountain. If he could make use of them, was something best left for the future.

In fact, all three men had worn suits of armor, that were each finely designed and shaped, which meant that there were both smiths and tailors in the mountain. The quality of the armors themselves suggested either an abundant amount of metals or that the men that had stood before him, were each members of important families.

Still, he needed to write a letter to the Knights of the blood, informing them that his people would be arriving to set up their new village, after all, that was the main reason his men had been there the day they first saw each other.

This was nothing more than an act so that the nauboring kingdom didn't consider this an act of aggression and act accordingly.

So as he wrote his letter he also wrote down anything that he could spare and had no use for. It would serve as the beginning of any future trade deals. Admittedly he was offering nothing, but it was a start.


	5. Chapter 5

(Speech change Asuna)

She found herself happily humming herself as she cleaned out the small house, people would call it a cottage, her family as well as herself, called it home.

A month had passed surprisingly quickly, there really wasn't anything to note, no real particular news about anything really, the players had settled in their new ways of life, whatever they may have been. It helped that nearly all of the players were teens and adults any children amongst them were few and far between.

Asuna for her part was happy living her life as both a mother and a wife, sure sometimes she had to go and fight in the frontlines, but for the most part, she was happy to leave the life of a clearer behind. Even if many considered her as one of the elite, those that stand so high up that many admire them.

Yet as she put her potato bread in the oven, she found herself staring at how strange it was for her to have a working stove and oven, some of the modern luxuries had arrived with them and they were gods gift to all of the players.

The scouts informed the guild leaders about the people in the mainland and how they were beginning to build their villages, a small trade had begun between the people in Aircrad and the Lannister kingdom, it was small but it was useful considering that for all the luxuries the castle had, the one thing it didn't was olive oil.

It's funny how the smallest things can be missed and as strange as it seemed olive oil was heavenly sought-after because it was both medicinal and was a good ingredient for food.

She listened to the children outside chasing after one another, joyfully enjoying their lives. Her own adopted daughter was taking a nap at the moment, she looked so small and frail when she slept like this.

The day the world changes Kirito and herself were planning to search for any information about her parents or guardians, but then the world changed and there was no sign of anyone looking for her. In the end, they chose to simply raise her as their own.

Asuna took in the calm nature of the day and enjoyed it, it was a far cry from the days of her wondering if she would die fighting a floor boss and looking as a leader to the Knights of the Blood, it wasn't anywhere nearthe the life she lived before as Asuna the student and daughter that studied constantly.

No, life was calm and simple now, she turned to look at the kitchen table and carefully picked up a teacup, seeing it contents still hot, she carefully took a drink from it.

Life was good, it was calm. Asuna could feel herself smile at this, yet she knew it couldn't, it wouldn't last.

They had arrived in the medieval era, a time where everyone was expanding and going to war for one reason or another. It was in this time both before and sometime after that the stories of heroes, dragons, giant and whatever else there was, was recorded.

Still, for the moment life was good and she would enjoy her newly made family.

Asuna read the paper Kirito insists on reading every morning and afternoon, she noticed that several people were starting to open new businesses like carpeting and as strange as it seemed there was even someone trying to build an airplane, that particular person was looking for engineers.

She found an article saying that several schools were being set up so that the younger generation could learn what the elder generation knew, instinctively Asuna turned to look at her daughters sleeping form.

The girl would need to go to school, but those were few and far between, yes there were some already set up, but just getting there was an issue on its own, then there was the issue of how competent the teacher was...

No this was a huge step, Kirito and her would need to talk about this and move on from there.

A scream caught her attention and as she looked out the window, she noticed several ruff looking men chasing after the children and their mothers.

Asuna had heard about the sudden appearance of pirates showing up, some beloved they came from somewhere outside the castle, others thought that maybe they were one of those troublesome n.p.c's, that had gained sentience.

Still, everyone agreed on one thing, for a regular person the pirate were dangerous, but for a player, they were nothing more than children with sticks they found.

That was how little a threat they were.

Asuna waved her hand and called for her help screen, she moved to her storage area and drew her rapier.

She turned to look at her daughters sleeping form kissed her on her forehead and headed out to deal with the headache that was growing.

The only thing anyone saw, be they the ones running from the pirates or the pirates themselves was nothing more than a flash of light, as the pirates were sent flying, tossed into their boat and sent downstream straight into the area where the water dragons tend to hang out.

Asuna for her part simply returned to her house and noticed that the potato bread was done, as she took it out of the oven Yui woke up, letting out a soft yawn and Asuna smiled at her daughter's innocent look.

Yes she would enjoy this time of peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Asuna waited for the sun to begin to set, she kept the meal warm for Kirito and read a book she had acquired, she smiled as each word written on the sheets of paper grasped her in their tone, each exclamation mark made her raze the voice in her head and she imagined how exciting the things in the story were.

Reading was one of the few pastimes people had now, not that anyone complained about it, the truth was no one really had time to reed books and if by some miracle someone did reinvent the television, the sad truth was there would barely be any time for it.

Aincrad needed to be mapped out and every monster needed to logged, every plant needed to be marked before anyone could truly live a carefree life. It was for this reason that many players were either helping set up villages, rebuilding towns or even simply living on their own far from people, like herself and her new family.

The door opened slowly and as she Asuna looked at who it was she saw Kirito standing in the entrance with a strained smile. Yui ran up to him and Kirito liked her up, as he smiled at his daughter's actions, his strained appearance having vanished like if it hadn't ever been there to begin with.

Asuna went to the oven and took out today's lunch, using a pair of oven mitts she carried the tray to the dinner table and placed it in the center of the table, she cut up the potato bread in a triangle shape for each of them and asked her husband about what had happened.

Kirito took one bit and smiles at the flavor of the bread, he swallowed slowly before he began to talk.

"The Guild and team leaders all gathered alongside the few solo players still around and everyone voted to have the higher floors colonized if there is no way of going back home. The problem is, that because of the way Aincrad works only the strongest players can live in the higher floors."

"You know because even the weakest monsters on those floors can be miny bosses on the bottom floors. So everyone agreed that as time goes by everyone should be made to go up the castle, well mountain now so that when the time comes anyone can live wherever they want and not die because they were to weak to simply live there." Kirito said before taking another bite and drinking a glass died with ice cold water.

"They're also wondering if we should invite the nearby lord into Aincrad as a show of our good nature and to try and strengthen any thoughts of an alliance, that and send out a warning," Krito said as he told her about what had happened during the meeting

Even as he ate Asuna could see that something was bothering Kirito, like if he wanted to tell her but knew that if he did he would end up only worrying her.

Asuna simply stretched out her hand and held onto her husbands, when Kirito looked at her she could tell he was really worried.

"...A few days ago the leader of the Army went missing, a floor boss showed up yesterday and delivered the Guild Leader to his team. From what both the monster and the Army leaders accounts of the events, members of the army tried to have him killed."

"Officially the Army is now severely compromised, some members are being interrogated, others are in the run and some have already been killed." Kirito told her, as he tightened his grip on her hand.

Asuna could only turn and look at Yui who was just happily eating now, completely unaware of her parent's worry.

Neither of them said anything after that and as it started to get dark they both prepared themselves for bed, Asuna prepared several ingredients for the next day's meals, while Kirito simply sharpened his swords and looked at any jobs people had opened.

That night neither of them slept, as they both imagined what else could change as time passed in this new world.

(Speech change Tywin Lannister.)


	7. Chapter 7

Tywin Lannister sat quietly, it had been an interesting month, the new town was coming along nicely and from what both the minor taxation of the people and the letters from both the newly appointed charges of the lands, as well as his spies things, would only get better.

It almost made him hesitate filling the place with the worst of humanity and in fact, he just might not do so if things continue as they are, after all, one had to protect his investment.

From what his scouts/spies told him, the people of the mysterious mountain had absolutely no care for the mainland. After all, why would they?

Everything that the scouts/spies reported suggested an abundance of food and resources just ready for the taking, Tywin was almost tempted to order his men to begging taking things from the island/mountain, however, he knew better than to start an indecent and start a fight with an enemy he didn't fully understand.

No, the swine would have to do it and from what Tywin had seen in his life, they will eventually do the deed.

Still, each letter came with other a drawing or a description of the various creatures that lived in that mountain/island, snakes the size of ships, griffins that flew in the skies, blizzards that walked on two legs and used both armor and swords like if they were men.

From time to time, his men would circle the mountain/island on small boats and they noted that all over the mountain/island there had been a constant fortification and construction of the various city and town walls.

Each varied in design and even material, but all shared one thing in common, they were strengthened on the top and on the bottom, like if they were expecting an attack by something enormous, the bottom was fortified in order to defend from a more conventional enemy.

The people on the island/mountain made no attempts to hide the fact that they were building several ships and in fact, did so openly but to have what his men called, rock giants move heavy material around, was preposterous. No, no it wasn't, Tywin corrected himself if you have something use it, otherwise, why have such as thing at all.

So far trade was going well, hed almost call it exceptional, several things were in fact traded for one another, wool for silk or better said silks, it was only until now that Tywin learned that there were various kinds of silks, each with is unick amount of strength.

Meat was traded for salt... It was for this reason that the people in the town hadn't bothered attacking the island/mountain, there was enough meat to feed a family of twelve for a month and this came every time salt was traded.

However what impressed him the most was what he gained from his trade of olive oil, both in information and in earnings. Either the people on the island/mountain were too stupid to realize he overcharged them for something that was quite common, or they simply didn't care for they wanted something they didn't have.

Four coins for every bottle of olive oil, normally it would be one silver coin or thirty copper, nowhere in the document signed did it specify the ripe of coin they would be paying with, this went for both sides. The people of the mountain/island paid four gold coins for every bottle and even acted as if they been undercharged.

The amount of gold that must be in those lands.

Still, griffins, lizardmen, giants made of stone, creatures that have enough meat to feed entire towns, perhaps it was time that he began to look into the stories of the past and prepare some form of defense, for if in any of those stories a grain of truth lies, then he will not be caught unprotected.

Still as Tywin looked at the letter in front of him he felt as if he was playing now playing a game between a rat and a cat. One would normally say a mouse and a cat, but where a mouse would run a rat would fight back and even drive the cat of, the question was who was he, was he the cat or was he the rat.

The letter's contents were but a simple invitation to the mountain/island, the intentions were clear, they were written on the letter, **we wish to strengthen relations**.

Normally this invitation would have been considered far too quickly and Tywin would have been on guard, but fro what he could gather this was nothing more than a show of strength. It was their way of saying, we can defend ourselves if you ever try to invade.

Tywin sat quietly and wondered who would he take with him, he needed someone young, strongman were required and even a girl or two just in case. He allowed a small smile to form, this small group would be people he knew he could use and were useful in more ways than one.

He took out a piece of paper and dipped his pen in ink and wrote a letter informing the people of the mountain/island that he accepted their invitation.


	8. Chapter 8

First thing was first, negotiations and holds of power were good and all but if he acted too quickly then he could, no he would be marked as a traitor to the crown, so he wrote down the events as they had occurred and placed what his men had found.

He would order some of his more talented servants to copy the drawings his men had sent and when it was all done he would send it to Kings Landing for them to later argue about. This was just to show he was informing them of what was going on, there would be suspicion and whispers of betrail and wat to but the important thing remained, he had informed them long before any true form of relations had begun.

If the crown perceived the newcomers as a threat who was he to stop them from protecting the realm, yet if relations went well go would be the main divider between the other kingdoms and the island/mountain. There were many dangers with this act, but the rewards outnumbered the risks involved.

Still, there were many things to take into account, no doubt lords would have their own thoughts and seems, greasy merchants would want whatever wealth was there and the masters would no doubt want to keep whatever secrets were there, under the pretext of how the information had to be protected.

He would need the hound for this, granted his brother was far more capable in battle but the man's beast like nature made it difficult to negotiate anything peacefully, several women would be needed to satisfy both his men and the host of the negotiations, one or two lesser houses and maybe someone blood related to be of use for him..

So many things to prepare for, many he was aware of and many he was not. Yet a smile almost formed on his face as he realized that by the time Kings Landing acted he would have already been trading with the newcomers for a while, like or not relations had already begun.

(Character change Walder Fray )

He sat there watching as the man walked in, the clean white armor that was joined by a red cross on the man's breastplate and a red cape that was only colored in the inside, while the outside remains completely white. He noticed all of this including the man's posture, behind the man was another.

He wore a gray simple armor, it was simple and direct to the point, if protected all of the right areas and left little for an attack to hurt the man inside, but while the man in white wore his armor elegantly, this one wore his as another set of clothes.

Their forms couldn't be any different under the dark shadows of his home, with every touch the light of the flames only made the men look so different from one another that it seemed as if he was looking at a statue carved from rock and another carved in wood both by highly skilled hands.

The men offered a slight trade nothing major simple fruits and vegetables, in exchange for gold and information. He agreed, of course, it wasn't his fault if more than half of the maps were outdated and even if more than a couple of names were of people that were already dead, it was their fault for not being specific in their form of payment.

Still, a deal was a deal and he would mostly honer it.

So with a wave of his hand, one of his men gave the men their do and in turn, several cartridges could be heard moving their loads. Both men bowed and left, good be had no patience for fools who thought they deserved more than the time, he had ready given them.

The loud sound of thunder echoed thru his house, rain had begun to fall. Too bad he had already done what the men had asked, so they would receive no help from him, so if they lost what information they had, well that was their problem.

(Kings Landing)

The small council had gathered none of the men had any form of smiles or pleasantries, no today was entirely different Tywin Lannister wasn't a man that had a joking bone in him, so his letters of strange creatures and magical islands could only be true, that or the man had gone insane.

Unfortunately, the king had gone off to get his old friend and war brother to a point him his new hand, so any form of investigation would have to be small. If what Tywin said was true then one had to assume that the people of that strange land were already doing their own form of espionage and information gathering.

Not only that there was a possibility of something far more dangerous living in that island, Dragons, should dragons be found living there then the consequences would be disastrous. Still, they could send no more than one or two people and if by some miracle they weren't affected by some sort of magic, then they would be too late to stop any form of solidification between those strangers and the Lanisters.

The only thing they could do right now was wait until the king returned.


	9. Chapter 9

(Elsewhere)

A crow flew in the sky, it flew all-night until it was unable to flap its wings it's three red eyes ever watchful looked to its surroundings as it searched for a place to land. However, it soon found that landing on a tree or on anything for that matter would be nearly impossible.

The many strange beasts in this land refused to let it enter their territories and more than once it was forced to flee for its life, only escaping when another creature forced its pursuer to retreat, thankfully the creatures in this strange island didn't see the crow as a threat and most of them were happy to ignore it, that is unless it tried to land, it was only then that they took offense to its existence.

Finally, after hours it fell out of sheer exhaustion, a single branch was what save it from falling to its death, still, the crow looked around as it expected an attack to come, yet none did. However had the crow been able to it three eyes would have widened at the sight it was met with.

A river ran red with blood, its edges, floating above the tears and beneath were the bloated forms of Fishman, Kraken's and various sea creatures. The land itself was no different as many corpses of creatures the crow had never seen before littered the ground.

Yet for all intended purposes the crow felt its instincts scream danger, little by little an iry silence began to settle and the crow soon found that it could hear its own heartbeat, its instinct creamed for it to fly, however, it found that it was too tired to do so.

So the only thing the crow could do was lay low and hope nothing noticed its presence. Soon a figure floated past had the crow not been as old and as wise as it was, it would have failed to notice that the fire only slightly floated off the ground, as it appeared to be walking.

The creature wore a red robe that had a hood that covered its face and the creatures glove covered hands made it seem frightening from afar, yet any person that looked at it would have been driven by a feeling of curiosity to it.

"Infection detected." The creature said, as it drew a with from an unknown place.

The crow felt the temperature drop and the cold wind blow, soon a figure covered in ice stood on the strange land, its blue almost crystal-like eyes took in its surrounding, however, it's time was cut short as the red hooded figure cut through the White walker in an instant, it never had a chance.

Yet where the white walker would have nor may turned into snow at the moment of its death, it instead broke into pieces and only its head remained intact. The crow watched as the creature liked up the white walkers head and placed it on a collar it wore on its neck.

The crow watched in complete fear the creature had no head, in fact, it didn't have a body at all, the heads of fishmen, white walkers, children of the forest, water dragons and all sorts of beasts hung from the creatures neck. Yet they were not dead, the heads all cried in lain and their expressions showed a pain far greater than any mortal would ever be able of understanding.

The crow watched as the head of the white walker, used all its strength to attempt to we or die, only for it to finally fail in exhaustion the last thing the crow would see before it flew into the air with strength it did not know it had, was the sheer look of desperation of the white walker as the creatures hood cover it.

(Character change Myrcella Lannister)

Her heart pounded as she held the letter in her hands, a mixture of fear and excitement flowed thru her, to think that her grandfather would personally call to her. The only thing the letter said was, I have need of you, don't ask questions.

Her father and mother had gone north, they left alongside her two uncles for some sort of diplomatic mission, so she was left entirely alone. Her older brother had gone with them and her younger brother, was still out in his studies.

The servants hurriedly ran about they lacked various dresses for her to wear, several footwear and perfumes all that were meant o bring out her youth and beauty. A guard was being picked for her to travel with and with them several of her most trusted servants.

She knew her grandfather was a frightening man, but when one looked closer, they would notice that he did, in fact, care about the people around him. Granted that a person would have to look so closely that a fly may seem equal to a giant, in order for them to look past his hard exterior, but who cared about the details.

Oh, how her head spun as she wondered about why he of all people had called her " _Had he found a handsome man for her to we'd? Did he just want to catch up? Or was it possible he had no he could have actually missed her_?"

Had the Septa seen her, the woman would have surely made her stool her foolish actions, fo4tuanally for her the woman was out doing whatever she usually did when she was on her own, so Myrcella was free to twirl as she walked.

We not really, it was too embarrassing to twirl at her age, but she did have a smile on her face and an extra hop in her steppes, everyone else was off in adventures doing their own thing and she had been left behind now it was her turn to go in her own adventure, there was just one problem.

What would she give her grandfather when she saw him.?


	10. Chapter 10

(Tywin Lannister)

He felt the light of the sun on his skin as he watched the many ships currently docked in his port, all things considered, he would probably never need them, at least not anytime soon, but it was best to be prepared. The day was calm and painfully so, it was the kind of day that one looked to the skies and wondered if any time had passed at all.

He didn't like it.

Times like these only came when something less favorable was coming, word had reached him that the Kings Hand had recently perished and the king was out getting a replacement.

Normally had these been other time he would have felt somewhat insulted and yet he didn't. Tywin allowed his mind to wonder even as he looked at every ship and listened to the captains explaining what needed to be repaired and why, for a man such as himself such an act was simple.

Granted he didn't have his mind firmly placed on the task currently at hand, but he didn't need it, so he was able to enjoy himself. Trade had been going well, so well in fact that he had allowed such things that weren't truly needed to be bought from the island.

Sandals- hammers shovels and so on, things that weren't really needed for his smiths could make such things themselves, but he wanted to see just how well the objects from the island held in comparison to his own. The result would be something he would keep to himself, at least until his smiths could figure out just how every hammer from the island outlasted the ones from his own lands.

The shovels, on the other hand, failed miserably as the wood they had as a handle would break easily when a rock fell on it, as for the sandals, well those were well received by both the men and the woman, so much so that he allowed for the merchants to place several orders in order to acquire more.

Tywin walked over a piece of wood that had been placed for him to walk from one ship to another and continue with his work, unhindered by pointless things. Still, he continued with his thoughts, his aunt and uncle would accompany him alongside his granddaughter.

The girl was sheltered but did as she was told, unlike her mother Tywin knew that if he told the girl to jump, she would continue to do it, until she fell from exhaustion. It was for this reason that he called for her, her loyalty was unquestionable and her youthful appearance was enough to woo any man.

That and the girls overly cheerful nature made many lower their guards around her. The rest of his companions, if one wanted to call it that would be made of only a few servants and somewhat lords of the newly settled area.

Still, it was quite odd for the lords and king of the mountain to not insist on either coming to his lands or he himself going to theirs. Their reasoning was simple but none the less effective, they had to make sure that everything that needed to be taken care of was taken care of.

Tywin himself was no different and it was for this reason that he continued to do things that absolutely bored him. Still, doing things like this made one's mind active and Tywin found himself wondering what else he could trade with.

Jewelry, animal furs from lands not native from his own, which would allow him to add an additional tax considering the time, manpower and sheer resources for them to be acquired. With a single gesture, Tywin made the many captains understand that he was pleased with what he saw, before turning around and leaving.

The journey home was quiet and uneventful yet when he arrived he found a significant amount of people had gathered, several knights, a few servants and even some carriages filled with was no doubt useless materials and amongst them was his granddaughter.

Where the light of the sun touched it became dark so much so that it even seemed as if it was a shadow instead of light and yet the girl's bright smile, golden hair and eyes that seemed to radiate joy made the shadows none existent.

How she reminded him of his deceased wife, but Tywin know that he couldn't afford to be soft. No, he had made that mistake once when he failed to stop his father in all his foolish acts and again when he failed his wife all those years ago.

No tywin wouldn't allow himself to be weak, but none the less he allowed himself to smile as he looked at his granddaughter, the radiant golden light the girl gave off seemed to somehow brighten as their eyes met.

Howling had it been since someone was actually happy to see him, it had been years and now he had yo hurt the one person they still felt that way. Unfortunately, this would have happened anyway, Myrcellas birth as a noble lady, assured she would be wed to a complete stranger, in order to strengthen relations.

This was no different, some would say that Tywin was playing a game of sorts, for they knew that if anything ever happened to the girl, then he would match with his entire army and wipe out the entirety of the kingdoms and lands responsible for it.

The kingdom for fling the act and the surrounding lands for allowing it. So if the girl happens to catch the eye of a lord or a prince in a nearby land where he could keep her safe then so be it, after all the island was only a short swim away.


	11. Chapter 11

The warm smile the girl had seemed to somehow become actual warmth as she embraced Tywin in a tight hug, twin for his part didn't move, he had no right to.

The light footsteps of a servant walking up to them, made Tywin look in her direction, a woman was holding the fur of a large bear, something to help keep him warm during these cold days.

"Come, we have a lot to talk about." Tywin said to Myrcella, before he began to walk into his castle, however, the girl refused to let go and everyone beneath them, was able to see the girl clinging onto him.

He didn't hate these things, no one ever spoke about them outside his territories, even within them the little people were hesitant to do so. The smirks of the people demonstrated their barely restrained laughter, normally he would put them in their place, but he had walked amongst them so many times, that he understood that these weren't smiles of them laughing at him, but more of joy.

Joy of what Tywin didn't know, no he did, his granddaughter had come and with her, all of the warmth she brought with her.

Yes, he would tolerate them, those smiles, these little people should acknowledge Myrcellas exist and as something superior to them.

As they finally reached the main entrance to the castle tywin waved his right hand dismissing the servants, they left thought saying any words. Soon it was just him and the girl.

"Let go." Tyson ordered the girl and she did exactly what he told her.

"We will soon head out and begin negotiations with a nearby island. You are to company me, whether you are of any need or not will depend on how things go." Tywin told his granddaughter and the girls smile vanished, as she began to understand the situation.

The light within her eyes seemed to dim and Tywin felt for the slightest of moments the feeling of regret, he could force a lower house to wed the stranger and gain influence over them that way, but nobles in higher standing would more often than not, see the lower houses, as little more than peasants.

Not to mention that the fact that if a lower house was swayed to betray him and join with the islanders he would have to deal with a rebellion from within and an invasion from without. No, that could not be tolerated, right now he was the ruler of these lands and the one responsible for the lives of everyone in them.

Whether those lives were the lowest of peasants or the highest houses didn't matter, it was up to him to keep them safe. Even if that meant hurting, the few people that he still cared for. He wasn't her grandfather at the moment and he had to do what was needed.

"As things stand you have nothing else to do, quite frankly I would prefer for you to be studying and preparing yourself for the duties of a lady, but as of right now you are needed." He told the girl, while trying to ease her worry.

Soon a pair of servants walked in carrying warm drinks, alongside the cups needed, the girl took one of the various cakes and began to eat it, before pausing and suddenly lighting up once more.

"I don't have to stay?" She asked and Tywin simply looked at her understanding what those words truly meant.

"No, not if they don't have anything of worth and even if they do, much is needed to be written and felt with before we can even begin negotiations." He answered her

The girl smiled and looked into his eyes, before showing the slightest hints of holding back her words. She seemed to understand that, no she knew that since the day of her birth this was her destiny and now she was turning to him, in hopes that he could find her a kind destiny.

Tywin simply looked at the girl, he was her grandfather and so he allowed himself to smile, granted that smile was so small that a person needed to either know him for some time, that they could identify the shuttle changes in his expression or have been so quick that they could see the smile appear and vanish.

Yet the girl only seemed to light up with life, as she looked at him.

"Grandfather, you'll never guess everything that has been going on back in KingsLanding."

Marcella began, to tell her stories of what she had seen and heard, in truth none of it was important, yet he allowed her to talk, who knew how long it would be, before they could do it again, or perhaps this would be the last time.

Only time would tell.

[Character change)


	12. Chapter 12

The many guild leaders, along with their direct counterparts, the team leaders, were present and the atmosphere in the room was heavy, both men and women, read each word that had been written on the skins of long-dead animals and none of them liked what they were seeing.

They had been tried, no not tricked, they all had expected to be lied from the beginning, but there was a sense of pride that all players felt, regardless of their position.

Yet none of them dared to voice their anger, after all even amongst their own people entire parts of history are known to be missing.

Still, one document told the stories of a man that had snuck into a castle and impregnated all of the princesses, but another told the story of a man that fought a golden lion, yet both were written like if they were the true history.

The confusion only continued, for in one piece of animal skin, the life story of a man that was only called the builder was found and in another, the tables of the dragons and those that controlled them.

Regardless of what they looked at, the mismatch pieces of history are found, slowly a thought began to spread amongst the guild leaders and if by instinct the team leaders began to come to the same realization.

This was, in fact, the medieval era of this world, so it wasn't the peoples felt that they hadn't written everything down, right now the world was covered in territorial wars and only within brief pieces was there any peace, for someone to actually sit down and write or draw their own history.

Slowly the mood within the room began to lighten and a smile began to cross each of the player's faces.

They had been fortunate enough to arrive in an that was at peace and so they had time to get things in order, whatever those things were, only time and the individual person knew.

One by one they all began to set the peaces of skin aside and switched to more commons paper, that was used within the castle.

The animal hoarders wanted axes to the fields that were in the higher floors, normally this wouldn't have been a problem, except that right now as things stood, even the creatures within Aincrad were only beginning to realize where they stood, within the animal kingdom.

For now, their petition would be denied and anything that even remotely resembled it would-be as well.

The level of danger could only be explained by a brief description of what they've encountered so far. An endless swarm of giant rats had eaten an baby dragon, only for its mother to wipe out the entire rat nest and hunt down any survivors, in search of revenge.

An entire group Pegasus were seeh fighting a bunch of unicorns, this wouldn't have been out of the ordinary, after all, both animals severely dislike each other, except that an entire heard of normal horses stood watching everything and they made so much noise, that they even seemed like if they were cheering.

Goblins, orcs and other less favorable creatures native to the castle had begun to change.

Before it wasn't unusual to see a few enslaved goblins to a powerful orc, now the orc had formed tribes a d those tribes had begun to enslave every goblin they could find. Still this was a common thing, until one realized that the orcs were preparing themselves to struck at their only true competition, besides the humans.

The minotaurs, who themselves had gone and enslaved the senators.

Yet this level of dancer didn't even mention, the various insects that were now moving around a d the strange illnesses that had to be dealt with.

No for people to move from floor to floor at the moment was far to dangerous, only those that were in sales and kept the makeshift economy moving would be allowed and that would only be, if they either had a player of an army at their side.

Next came the preparations for the visit that the nearby lord would do, the fact that the man would be staying for more than a day was not only a possibility, bit reality was all to real, as things stood the mode of transportation of this age, was painfully slow.

They needed to present a united front, but how could they, when they only had small patches of land under their control and those patches didn't extend to the kingdoms that existed inside the castle. The guilds and teams were quick to take abandoned, cities-kingdoms- dungeons and so on, but where there were castles kings and queens exist.

The players had remained away from those places, they couldn't risk a war at the moment, none of them had any doubt that they would eventually win, but none of them knew if they had what it took, to actually kill another human.

The monsters, they were monsters no matter how much they mated human actions, so killing them was normal, but another person that was an entirely different thing. It was the very reason, no player had killed any native, even if the native had attacked them.

They had to deal with this carefully, every stone moved and laid to build a road, could cut thru a kingdoms territory, in those occasions, if that road was truly needed, then the players would pay for the kingdom to allow them to both build the road and use the part of the road that crossed thru the kingdom territory.

So far the system had worked and things were being done in order to either go around or simply completely avoid any problems that might occur, whether it is by using the various rivers or by flying.

The rapid movement of resources had caused a rapid change, however, and because of it the various towns-cities and villages were quickly having protective walls built around them, something many of the various kingdoms villages could only dream of.

But this-this was something completely different, they would have to show a time of unity that didn't exist, if they were seen as to disorganized, then the chances of the word spreading and some opportunistic lord attacking was high.

Even if lord Tywin didn't attack, he could easily entice someone he didn't like to do so and in that way learn about their defenses and respond time. No, they had to plan and they had to make sure that whatever they planned was nearly perfect, but how could they keep up a free that could last for weeks or even months.


	13. Chapter 13

(Character change Cersei Lannister )

The cold wind of the north could be felt inside the carriage despite it being sealed enough to keep the cold wind from coming in. A letter had arrived, carried by a messenger one of her father's secret guard.

The letter had only a few words written on it, but knowing her father, what was left unsaid spoke more than any words ever could.

" **Don't cause any problems** "

Those few words filled her with fear, something was happening near her father's lands and he had no patience for any sort of problems that could or would occur.

Normally the messenger would have left soon as the letter he was carrying had been received by the person it was meant for, but the man had stayed, that alone meant that he was either carrying more letters, either for her brother, the dwarf or the fat blob that was her husband.

A light mist formed as she exhaled her breath, something was happening and she needed to find out what it was. The two girls from the north slept happily completely unaware of any danger that might occur, the eldest was young and foolish an easily manipulatable pawn, the youngest of the two was rebellious and hard to move, hard but not unmanageable.

The sun was starting to set, it would be dark soon, it would be foolish for her or anyone inside the carriage to step outside, any women surrounded by men, was just asking for those men to claim her.

She was certainly safe, her brother/lover was with her, the two girls, however, that was another story, in fact the only reason her husband and the high king hadn't laid claim to them, was the simple fact that they were his old friend's daughters and nothing else.

Still, she knew she had to sleep lightly, bandits walked these dark lands and packs of while animals roam freely, the bandits could care less of the king wearing a crown and of any of the knights, they were bandits and bandits did what they pleased.

As for the animals, well animals only cared about eating and it wasn't unusual for entire patrol units to be eaten by a large pack of hungry wolves or/and bears.

The cartridge stopped and the light of fires burning could be seen thru the carriage windows, soon a servant brought her and the two girls hot food and hot drinks, but since both girls were still asleep, she was the only one that are and drank.

"A message, well read the blasted thing to me" her husband's voice reached her, it seemed that the messenger wanted to finest his work a quickly as possible.

"Forgive me my king." The messenger answered.

"Robert Baratheon, as you may now be aware of the situation near my lands, I have taken it upon myself to open negotiations with the mysterious island that has suddenly appeared near the edges of my territory."

"My spies have already seen many oddities within the mountain, but due to it's disable defenses have yet to actually set foot on it. As you are aware the many drawings of the strange creatures and stone beings, negotiations cannot wait any longer."

"So I Tywin Lannister, will be negotiating personally with the people if the island and with luck, a war between my lands and theirs can and will be avoided...That is all my king." The messenger said.

"...I see. Go on leave" Robert Baratheon said.

The sounds of the messenger footsteps could be heard leaving, slowly walking away from the campsite, soon the housing of wolves followed.

"My king." Ned Stark the Lord of the north and the father of the two girls said.

"I know, he's trying to get ahead of everyone else, we can't do anything at the moment, but when we get to Kings Landing, you'll have a lot of work to do." Rover Baratheon answered his childhood friend and new Hand of the King.

An uneasy silence began to set in and slowly the sound of a would growling next to the carriage could heard, both of the girl's pets were reacting to something, the wind blew stronger almost to the point it shook the carriage.

The two girls woke up at that moment and opened their eyes in fear of what was happening, they gasped for air and the sound of a lions roar soon followed.

"Stay behind us" the Starks guards voices could be heard and the sound of something growling followed, it was loud and it almost seemed like something giant was walking past them.

Nothing happened after that the carriage door opened and Cersei saw the glimpse of black swords wide blade move past her, the girls screamed and for an instant the darkness passed and a Stark Guard stood in front of them.

Something was happening and Cersei knew she needed to figure out what was going on.

(Character change)

The guards began to gather around the edges of the beach, one by one boats began to leave the island and head towards their location, it wasn't a long distance by any means, it was simply an act to keep visitors from getting wet.

The new village, no settlement was strangely well kept and as Tywin looked around, he began to wonder if some sort of underground deal was made behind his back, if not then it was entirely possible that the people were using the giant animal's body parts as building materials, but was ridiculous.

Yet again, he had seen it before with smaller animals, so it was possible.

He and his granddaughter stepped onto a boat and soon they were headed towards the island, it was time to see the new players in this game.

The sound of water slowly moving was the only sound that could be heard and Tywin made sure that none of his men, the accompanying lords or even the servants would make any unnecessary noises, lest they unintentionally break any of the newcomer's customs.

To boat soon reached the island and no one had even so much as set foot on it, when a massive creature that towered over any tree walked past them, its neck was long and its legs were the size of tree trunks, but it simply walked past them, not farming for any of them.

"Welcome Lord Tywin" a man's voice said to him.

"Yes this was going to be interesting." Tyson thought to himself


	14. Chapter 14

A man stood at the side of the beach greeting them, Tywin simply looked at the man, he didn't appear threatening at all, despite wearing a set of simple thick gray armor.

Yes the man wasn't threatening at all, Tywin was nearly certain of that, except that wasn't the case, the fact that the man could stand openly without a care in the world, as the creature walked pass him, meant that either the animal was completely harmless or that the man didn't even consider it a threat.

However, neither his relaxed stance, nor his casual way of speaking, could make Tywin ignore the man's eyes, they were cold and calculating, almost to the point that Tywin was certain that the man knew, that if a fight broke out, he would win.

Whether the man would be injured or not, Tywin didn't know.

The boat finally touched ground, however, the men quickly left the boats and dragged them up to the point, where dry sand was on the beach.

This was a power play, one Tywin had seen before and told him far more than many would be able to know.

The fact that there was no place to put the boats, suggested that things were still under construction and only the bare minimum had been done. The fact that the men had demonstrated their strength, alongside the fact that only one person, was greeting the diplomats, meant that that things inside the island, were far from running smoothly.

There was a breach in the armor, but could it be capitalized? Only time would tell.

One by one the knights, the servants and the lord's last foot on this new world, his granddaughter quickly made sure to remain near him.

"Right this way please" said the knight, that had yet to introduce himself.

"Please forgive the fact that you'll have to walk up where the carries are, but as you are aware of, getting things back in order, is harder than breaking them." The knight said to them.

After a minute of walking Tywin found himself staring at two carriages, one that was all black and another that was completely red, both design and form were completely identical, only that the color was different.

Not only that but six horses, pulled each carriage, six red horses for the black carriage and six black horses for the red carriage.

The inside of the carriage was comfortable, not too hot and not too cold, this meant that a certain level of sophistication was held by these people, anyone that could build something like this could make fairly detailed plans.

There are few that will, willingly admit it, but war is won by those that can plan, make preparations for the smallest details, similar to a cook or a carpenter, that have to plan for things that might occur.

The carriage stopped and Tywin was about to step out when the knight that had been riding in the opposite carriage spoke loudly.

"I thought you might want to take in the view, it takes my breath away every time I see it." The man's voice was now irritating.

Myrcella turned to look at him for approval and Tywin noded after all he would be stepping out as well. The girl alongside the wives, the women servants and even some of the men gasped at the sight before them.

Tywin didn't allow himself to react, right in front of him were eight giants made of steel and stone guarding the entrance to a city protected by walls made of white and black stone.

"It's a bit early,but welcome to the city of beginnings." The knight said to them.

Again one by one the reentered the carriages and were on their way, from the windows, Tywin could see wild boars, rabbits and so on, either there were so many of the animals, that hunting them was almost pointless or no one hunted them at all and so the animals felt no fear, from being around humans.

The sound of stone moving soon fought their ears, it seemed that any form of escape would soon be lost. Again the sound repeated itself from here on out, they would only have themselves to rely on.

From the windows, tywin could see men and women go about their day, one word came to mind as he looked at them pass.

Clean.

One of three things were happening, the city and its people had been cleaned for their visit, the people were in fact always like this or that only recently things had changed just enough, for everyone to live this comfortably.

Granted there were still beggars in the alleys, but even they looked well fed.

The soon came to a complete stop and the carriage door opened, several knights stood side by side, welcoming them all.

One by one they all stepped down and stood directly in front of several armored men, immediately Tywin knew that these were the ones you don't mess with, the way that they stood, was completely different from the way every other knight stood.

It was time to play this game, up to this point it had been nothing but mind games, from hear on out, everything from the way they acted, to the way they spoke could and would be used against them.

"Ow" a small girl said behind them and as Tywin turned to see who it was, he found himself looking at a small girl that wore a loose set of knights armor.

The mountain enraged by the girl's actions drew his sword and instantly a small lizard flew at him, in the blink of an eye, the creature that was no bigger than a small cat, was the size of a full grown horse.

"Dragon" Tywin said.

"Enough, apologize to the man, you knew not to trip and you still did it anyway. One of the knights ordered the young girl, who in turn simply rose her hand calling off the beast.

The mountain reluctantly put away his sword, Tywin had wanted to bring the mans younger brother, but he was accompanying his grandson in his visit to the north.

Still, this one piece of information was valuable, there were dragons here and with them those that could control them.


	15. Chapter 15

Tywin could feel the mountains anger and so could the girl's dragon, who positioned itself like a guard dog, that stood between dangerous enemy and its master.

Even now the creature, had flames pouring out of its mouth, it didn't attack.

No, it wouldn't disobey its master and Tywin knew, that if it so much as made a false move, the creature knew that those before it, would deal with both the girl and itself.

"I'm sorry" said the small brown hard girl, as she bowed her head.

The mountain for his part simply looked at her and closed his eyes. This exchange was over, however, a thought lingered inside Tywins mind.

"Was this staged?" the mountain was the strongest of them all and with one small girl, the people here had both measured the man's patience and ability to draw a sword. Not only that but Tywin was certain, that the mountain had hit the girl with a balled up first, but if that was true, then the dragon's reaction made sense.

Yet all of this brought up one more question, just how strong was this girl? for her to not have a scratch on her.

"Lord Tywin, please this way. You must be tired, we've prepared several rooms for you and your people." A man wearing a red knights armor, said to him.

Tywin for his part simply looked at the man and noticed that he and those around him wore different from those behind them. The man's red armor and wite shield separated him from those behind him that wore a white armor, next to him was a man that wore a dark gray armor, similar to the one, of the man that had greeted them and led them to the city.

It was a strange thing walking up to an unknown palace, whether this was a lords home, a small houses estate or whatever no one amongst them knew and truthfully none cared. What they all did care about, however, was simply knowing how to use what little information they had up until now.

The sun was starting to set, soon it would be dark and they would be at the complete mercy of these strangers.

They walked up to a large mansion made of red and white stone, the walls were red and the pillars where white, while the windows were dark and colored white on the side, almost as if the castle itself was designed to look like a bloodied corpse.

They walked past a large pair of white doors, immediately Tywin noticed that the smell of cinnamon lingerd in the inside of the castle, brownstone was used for the floor, while the ceiling was white, a large set of brownstone stairs were immediately in front of them.

Immediately servants began to gather, both men and woman immediately bowed their heads welcoming them.

Tywin would have normally thought that this was a failure in the organization of the house, except this want the case, no from the very beginning these people had been playing their game, not once had he and those comparing him, had been left alone.

Tywin knew this by the way the servants moved, it was too coordinated, not in the way servants ideally gather, no more like it was practiced, but not perfected like it should have been and yet there was a level of confidence, in each servant's footsteps.

Almost as if these weren't servants at all, Tywin felt his eyes harden, now he understood what was going on, these weren't servants, no these were knights/soldiers acting the parts given to them.

This spoke far more than one could ever believe, either this place was so dangerous that knights were used for both low-level work or these people had something to hide and neither option was one Tywin felt the least bit welcoming to.

They were all led to their rooms, which I turn were simple things that had nothing more than a bed and white walls.

Tywin would have thought of this as an insult, however, it made more sense to keep a guest safe, so having a little as possible within the room made sense. Plus the bed itself was incredibly comfortable.

The sun had nearly completely set now, they would spend two days here and in those two days they would see just how much of a threat these people truly were.

(Character change Myrcella Lannister)

Her servants followed closely behind her alongside their guards, it was interesting to see this new place, for one the entire building was completely bright even if the outside was completely dark. Alongside them were the many ladies, that accompanied their husbands, of course their own separate guards were with them, each one of them were equally curious to see the mysteries this palace had.

Soon the sound of children laughing could be heard, they walked closer and closer until they found several women alongside small children, some of the women wore knight armor, while others wore nothing more than simple black dresses.

Yet what bought their eyes was the sight of the strange creatures that moved around them, one in particular caught Myrcellas eye, it was the same blue dragon that was with the small girl earlier. As Myrcella looked around she found the brown hair girl smiling happily with another woman that was dressed in white armor.

The woman was attending to a small black-haired girl that was wearing similar clothes to those of the other children around her.

"So do you remember how to match?" The woman asked the small black haired girl who in turn simply molded.

"Tomorrow is your first day of school" the woman said before taking the small black hard girl into a right hug. This was the girl's mother, Myrcella realized, before one of the women noticed her and the rest of the ladies presence.


	16. Chapter 16

Myrcella stared at the two for a long moment, there was reason for her to do so, not at all really, being a Baratheon, she knew that her father had many bastards, in fact every house had them.

Whether it was from the woman's extra affairs, or the head of the houses taking of whatever girl pleased his eyes, the simple fact was that bastards were everywhere.

Yet this, this was something different, never had she heard about a woman taking her husbands bastard and loving it, as it was her own.

No, usually the unwanted children were cast aside or sent away, simply for them not to be an eyesore and yet the small black haired girl looked nothing like the woman holding her. True, both were thin, had a small chest and seemed to ignore all actions that a lady should know.

Granted the girl could simply take after her father and it was for this reason that she had black hair and black eyes, perhaps it was something along the lines like how her and her siblings all had the Lannister golden hair and purple eyes, despite being Baratheons.

Her elder brother sure proved this by the way he acted, he may have not looked like their father, but he did act like him.

Perhaps it was something like that.

A hiss behind her, alerted her of a snake that must have entered the castle by accident, yell Myrcella felt her eyes widen at the sight of the massive python slithering past her and the comparing ladies.

On the creatures back rode five children all laughing, it was a strange sight, not one unwelcomed and certainly not well received. The creature could easily devour the little ones and still be hungry and yet, the children seemed perfectly safe.

She about to introduce herself when a man dressed in black armor walked into the room and with him was all too familiar smell, a mixture of milk and iron, blood coated the air now, Myrcella turned to look at her guards and noticed that even those comparing the other ladies had placed themselves between the ladies and the man, by pure instinct.

Her guards were no different, yet as Myrcella continued to look at what was happening before her, she saw the same black hair girl run up to the man with wide open hands.

"Papa!" The black haired girl called out to the man, who in turn picked the small girl up and carried her back to her mother.

The two looked at each other before a smile grew on both their faces. "We dealt with the three Pegacorns, the research team is looking into them now. If I didn't know any better, Id swear they were using magic, but that's impossible." The man told the woman.

My cell watched as the woman stretched her thin had up to the man's lips silencing him, her thin body, despite being covered in white armor, still displayed the woman's thin feminism figure and the two embraced one another in a warm kiss.

The woman light hazel-brown hair and light brown eyes, contradicted the man's short black hair and black eyes.

Myrcella thought to herself this must be the girl's father.

"Why don't you join us?" A girls voice reached Mycellas ears and when she turned to see who it was, she found that it was the same brown-haired girl from earlier, her strange blue dragon was once again the size of a house cat.

The girl was looking straight at a group of servants, who in turn looked at the various ladies and knights.

None of them spoke against it and so the servants followed the small girl towards the gathering of women and children.

"We're getting ready for the first day of school, so we're just putting the finishing touches on these little one's new uniforms" the brown haired girl said.

"Excuse me, but what are the pins the children are wearing." As servant asked.

"Oh that, each guild or team has an emblem, but we can't just give small children those things to carry, they would lose them. So it's easier to pin them to the children clothes." The girl said before pausing for a moment.

"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Silica, a beast tamer." The girl introduced herself, while at the same time, her dragon let out a small roar.

Immediately after the servants introduced themselves, yet it was only after they were done, that one of the accompanying ladies dared to speak up.

"I noticed that some children have red hats, while others have yellow or white hats?" The woman asked.

"That's for them to tell to which class they belong to, small children recognize simple things quickly." The girl answered.

The rest of the night passed quickly and both the ladies and the woman spent it simply making small talk, until it was time to return to their rooms and actually sleep. My cell wasn't certain and in truth hoped that the rest of the ladies noticed, that as the night passed, slowly knights dressed in different colored armors gathered around the room.

It was only at the last moments, when Myrcella was walking away, that she noticed that each child alongside one or two women ran up to one of the knights. A thought entered Myrcellas mind, something had happened and as direct result, the women and children had been sent here for their own protection.

(Character change Kirito)

Asuna had fallen asleep, with her Yiu was sleeping comfortably, their sleeping faces were so peaceful.

A few days ago, three monsters had come down from one or several of the higher floors, because they were high-level monsters the ones on the lower floors couldn't deal with them. Fortunately, the floor bossed didn't stand for it and so immediately began to deal with any monsters that had begun to follow those three.

Truthfully the cleaners, the players who had been dealing with the monster that caused trouble would have ignored the three, had they not started to attack human villages.

They left no survivors.

A pink, a white and a black Pegacorn, it took half of all the cleaners to deal with the three and the players only managed to kill them, with the help of several field and floor bosses. Somehow, those three monsters could manipulate the are around them, fire solar beams, create force fields and even mind control.

Things were getting more and more dangerous as the days passed and the players were already stretched thin, so having to deal with problems from the outside, could break the few defenses the castle had.

Still Kirito couldn't help but skill, tomorrow was Yui's first day of school and he would have a front role seat to it.

(Character change)


	17. Chapter 17

The sound of bells, drums and feet walking in union could be heard across the city, even before the sun had risen, mothers and fathers had woken up early to prepare a meal for their children, the smell of bread, freshly cooked meat and vegetables spread thought the once quiet streets.

Banners and flags of all sizes and colors decorated the buildings, while the elderly and the infants looked out their windows, those that did not have children simply wondered, what was all of the excitement about.

On the highest of buildings as well as the lowest of sugars men-women and monsters watched intrigued and so stopped to watch what was going on.

One by one, in pairs or in small groups boy, girls both young and in their teens began to walk, their mothers either held their hands or walked closely behind them.

Small children jumped with joy, excited about what was going on, while the elder teens, walked either feeling like if they were stepping on a razor's edge or simply gossiped and joked with those they knew.

Slowly lines began to form as proud fathers watched their children form small bundles of colors, red hats with matching red capes, both great and small stood next to blue hats with blue capes, green hats stood besides yellow hats and green capes stood besides yellow capes.

The bundles slowly became lines that were formed from the smallest of them all, the larger and strongest amongst them.

Their uniforms were chosen for the strength of their materials and the fact that if they were to get dirty or torn, they could be easily ignored or replaced.

On every child's chest, the insignia of one of the guilds or teams emblems was proudly polishes and won't for all to see.

There were exceptions of course, noble houses from within the castle had used the three pegacorns attacks to hide within the city and as such managed to place their families emblems amongst the first generations.

There were also those that had already formed guilds or teams and as such chose to keep them and finally the few players that had either had children with them or had adopted from amongst those brought to this world with them or from amongst the castles people, gave their emblems to their children hoping that they would make them into something greater and even if they couldn't, it was good for the children not to be apart of any major group.

Too many tracks came from something like that.

At every teen's side was a small bag, each holding paler and pencils, while the little ones held crayons and soft paper, things that wouldn't hurt small children.

As the children began to walk, drums began to beat and slowly the players either parents of some of the children or those that would act as simple guards began to join the march.

Tywin watched everything carefully, he had been told about this by Myrcella and was about to yell at the girl for leaving her room and dragging so many people with her, until he realized that either the encounter could have been staged or something had happened for something like this to be happening, when he was visiting this land.

Like a distraction for the people, something to keep them from overthinking about things they shouldn't have. He himself had done this, several times before and it had proven effective.

Regardless, all of this did show Tywin one thing in particular, these people were severely weakened, the amount of defenses for such a small gathering of people, no matter how important shouldn't have been so sloppy and even if these were the next generation.

Why have them walk amongst those that could do them harm?

No, there were too many questions and far too few answers. Everything was a move and everything he saw could be lies, truths or half-truths, all set up to confuse him and those with him.

Tywin sat both frustrated and entirely calm, so far negotiations had gone smoothly, neither side would be allowed to set foot on the others land, while only a signed document would allow men and women to cross the boarders openly.

Both sides would build a wall on each side of the beach to keep watch for less than savory things, while eight feet would remain part of the islands ocean territory on the other direction would remain entirely of Tywins himself.

In truth nothing had been gained and nothing had been lost, but up until now it had been nothing more than formality.

Now came the real mind games.

Tywin had enough experience to know when someone was watching him, even when that person was invisible to all of his senses, being in war makes a person develop such skills and Tywin knew that spies were fighting spies all over the city.

In fact his guard, as well as the ones comparing those he had brought with him, were completely on edge the intent to kill came from one direction, only to be met by another, before the two vanished, the only thing proving that none of them were going insane, was the fact that the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.

Still, negotiations were over, like it or not neither side was willing nor capable of doing anything to the other at the moment.

Despite the people of the strange island being at their weakest, the creatures that lived on the island could and would easily overwhelm his men, should an invasion of the island ever happen.

No by what little Tywin had seen, it was more than obvious that any attempts to go deeper into the island and climb the mountain was nothing short of insanity.

Dragons flew in the skies here, they did so besides giant birds and small children kept dogs the size of lions as pets.

The city itself had decent guards, even if they were only a few of them, but what disturbed Tywin, was the strange knight's eyes. Despite appearing old or young, each and every one of them had the eyes of a killer and the eyes of someone that had experienced great loss.

That alone was extremely frightening, few people could experience such things and remain combat effective, most just went insane and killed everything in front of them and became more beast than men and yet every knight here, acted like if they were in complete control.

One of two things was happening, one either they had all come back from their madness or this place was so dangerous, that it provided the perfect environment, for these mad men and women to release their blood lust and calm their insanity.

Still, officially negotiations had ended, that didn't mean they had stopped, it now turned for his men to act, women would bed men and use their ears to listen for any sort of information, while more enlightened men would use their silver tongues to get whatever they wanted.

They had two days and the sun had barely risen, before it set Tywin would know the history of this land, whether it was fabricated one or a true one didn't matter, people lie using what they know and eventually Tywin would know the truth.

No matter what it was.

A servant girl walks in carrying meats, bread and fine wines, Tywin watches as his men take a bite out of each piece of meat and take a drink from his cup and directly from the bottle holding the wine itself.

Neither were poisoned, intact his means stomachs growed demanding more. Tywin nearly smiled, he would not give any of his guards anymore, this was given to him and should he give any to them, it could easily be taken as an insult.

Something along the lines of, we gave him our best food and he gives it to the dogs.

The door swings open once again and Tywin sees his granddaughter smiling joyfully, she was accompanied by several servants and her personal Septa. The girls presence was like a blast of warm wind lighting up, the cold room Tywin was in, in fact even his guards seemed to smile as the girl walked in.

"Grandfather, you should have seen it. The little one's feet moved quickly as they tried to keep up with their elders, while the elders slowly began to learn to walk in union." The girl said to him, providing her ideal pointless gossip.

Yet there was something there, something that caught his interest.

"What do you mean they walked in union?" Tywin asked the girl.

"Well..." Marcella said as she placed a finger to her chin.

"At first they were completely disorganized, then they began to match the way the one in front of them walked and soon they all were walking exactly the same" the girl answered him, before taking a fork and taking a piece of meat for her self and taking several more, which she gave to her servants and her Septa.

This was troubling, what he had seen earlier was not a gathering for simple studies, but the footwork training for the next generation. Even the next day's march was quiet, the children would know what was expected of them and would attempt to imitate it again."

"Clever." Tywin said in a voice so quiet that even Myrcella was unable to hear it.

The people here we're rebuilding quicker than Tywin himself could have anticipated, unfortunately, this meant that the two-day visit would have to be cut to a single day, there were too many unknowns and if he or his men were to be captured than the consequences would be far worse than Tywin could imagine.


	18. Chapter 18

The cold wind blew tightening her, even as she hailed her breath became a light most, which was odd considering that every time, she took a breath it felt like if the cold air would freeze her lungs.

There were words spoken in whispers by the lower classes, things that would and could easily be ignored, had it not been for the sheer number of them all.

Still, none of the stories were of any consequences, after all the stories originated from the lower floors and everyone knew that the lower floors were of little to no danger to the people themselves.

After all even the lowest of peasants from her territory was capable of fighting the strongest of all the monsters on the lower floors and yet something had happened, something that had changed everything.

Soon knights and young nobles that wanted to have some fun with the lower classes, began to hear stories that were quickly becoming legends.

A single knight that faced of against creatures of nightmare made his last stand and emerged victoriously.

Adventurers discovering ancient long lost dungeons and exploring the depths of those dark places, all the while fighting off the monsters that lived in them.

There were songs of a knight that wore red armor and held a white shield, the songs spoke of him along with his men that wore white armor and how they faced off against countless monsters, as the people worked building a road.

One of the wildest stories she herself had heard when she went out for a drink, was how alone swordsman fought for nine days and ten nights, against a long-dead worrier and upon defeating the carrier, the Black swordsman earned the fallen warriors armor as a reward.

The stories continued, but in reality, no one of real importance cared, that is until something happened.

Once in a while merchants would travel to the lands below and sell whatever exes materials they had, they would overcharge the lower level people for things that they normally would never be able to get where they lived and yet few if any of them were able to sell anything at all.

This was a problem, normally the crown would take a portion of these sales and if there was no one buying than the crown couldn't gain any extra coins.

Messenger were sent to the kings and queens bellow, all of which said the same thing. Go talk to the Adventurers.

Do spies were sent out to see what was going on, what they found was impossible, towns and cities had protective walls built around them, normally this wouldn't have been anything unusual, had it not been that the walls were built with stone several times stronger than that, that was found in their floors.

Reports of people going into towers or dungeons and bringing out corpses of monsters by the dozens started to arrive and drawings of roads that connected small villages together were built in such a way, that if a monster of bandits did attack, people could flee with ought ever being seen by the attackers.

Roads that only knights and merchants travel in, connected the larger cities and towns with the smallest of villages.

Yet what was most disturbing of it all was what she had just heard.

Several assassins had been sent out, to deal with the danger of who or what these adventurers were, only to be stopped by the adventurers themselves. The fact that the adventurers or players as they liked to call themselves were reluctant to kill a person, made the assassins confident in their victory.

That is until one of the sasins aimed for a gathering of children, it was in the blink of a n eye, when a man dressed on black clothing wielding two swords, rendered several assassins unconscious, while several more had their heads cut off, by a woman with a tattoo of a coffin that was smiling.

The man died immediately after giving his report, a large cut across his back, it was only the man's sheer force of will, that allowed him to live long enough to give his report.

"It's cold" Mordred said to herself as she thought about what she had just heard.

She stood there looking at the man's corps before releasing a blast of pure energy, leaving no trace that a corpse had ever been there. The man's family would only know he had abandoned them, such was the fate of assassins and spies.

(Elsewhere)

He walked down the lines several floors filled to the brim with books, scrolls and parchments, poems, stories, legends and detailed explanation of how to do things were present where ever he looked.

His old hands shook as he opens a scroll and he was met with the designs of a device for distributing water to an entire city.

He couldn't hold back his smile, even his elderly face seemed to lose fifty years, at the sight before him. This, this place, was open for everyone, a fountain of knowledge freely given to the people, each thing held here was invaluable.

To think that after all these years he would find such a place and yet even he knew that this small library was not even a fraction of what these people knew.

Despite his years, he still held his incredible memory and he would remember every design, every plan he laid his old eyes on. Some were so complex, that he was certain that entire generations could pass and they wouldn't even be able to build these wonders.

Others were so simple, that even now lord Tywins men could construct them and yet they were so complexed that it would take months before just one of them could be completed. Still, he continued to open scrolls and gain new knowledge.


	19. Chapter 19

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the room, each impact made the onlookers slightly jump, as the energy brought bought by the strength of each blow, mixed with the thunderest sound of the impact before it.

It was like if the past was colliding with the present and no mortal power could stop it, even the smith whose skin was black, could not hope to stop the events set in motion and so had no choice but to continue on forward regardless of the consequences.

Perhaps the man's predecessors were from Sothoryos, that would explain his skin color, many that came from that place had similar, if not darker skin, still regardless of that, watching the man forge was a sight to be held.

"Go ahead give it a try" said a pink haired girl, to one of the youths that accompanied them and immediately the young man and his attendant both drew their swords.

It was over before it began, the recently acquired sword, cut right then the attendants, like fire going thru dry leaves.

The young man smiled and pointed the sword towards the girl. "Now you will come with me and" the young man said only to find himself lying on the floor, with his sword pointed at him.

"One you're too weak to do any kind of harm to any one of us, two I don't know how you do thing where you're from but trying to hurt someone that sells you something, isn't good for developing a working relationship." The girl said the young man before placing his recently bought sword next to him.

As he watched he took note, the girl's movements were sloppy and skilled, no it more as if whatever skill she had gained had been lost. Something that usually happens during times of peace.

Yet despite the girls easily readable movements and restraint, he was certain that in a real fight, he wouldn't be able to kill her.

He wasn't going to make any wild speeches of grander, he was here only because it was convenient for Lord Tywin, in fact the only reason he now ruled the land he had, was simply because he was expendable.

He didn't matter, his father, mother, brothers and sisters were all expandable and that was why they had been given the task of watching the newcomers and developing the lands.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise or perhaps it was a death sentence, regardless he was here and needed to prove himself useful, both to Lord Tywin and to the newcomers.

While true that everything needed to be watched, it didn't necessarily mean that neither side could meet halfway, for example if his smiths, fishermen or farmers could learn some skills from the newcomers, mix them with what his people already knew and create something new, then a working relationship could form.

It would be rare for any sort of trade to happen, between his lands and the rest of Westeros, there was little doubt that the tax collector and the men that performed trade for Lord Tywin himself would come, but one only had to learn when they would set out, how long they remain and how long it took to go back.

Things such as escorts and so on, could either be bribed or kept quiet in more than one way, whether that way was women, gold or goods depended on the person.

So for now he watched and he learned.

(Character change)

Myrcella walked down the streets, like usual she was accompanied by several guards and her handmaidens, not to mention her Septa was next to her. She was currently taking in the sights and looking at all of the peculiarities of this strange city.

Here knights walked on roofs, giant lizards pulled carts and children kept pets that odd to say the least and yet it all seemed natural.

For example the knights that walked of roofs, could easily be compared to the guards that watched over the gates and walls, the lizards could be replaced by horses and the beast, well even back home people kep dangerous animals as pets.

She was just about to turn a corner, when she caught sight of a familiar face, it was the same woman with chestnut hair, the adopted mother of the bastard girl of the man that wore the black armor.

The woman wore a long white coat and a red skirt, that showed far to much skin, how could any woman show her knees so openly, Myrcella could never know.

The woman carried a large bag with her and several vegetables could be seen sticking out of it.

Perhaps the woman was nothing more than the man's bedmate, someone to watch over his daughter, after all it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the man to bed the same woman that was raising his child, even if he would simply caster aside when the girl was old enough, to be married off.

"Lady Asuna, thank you for your purchase" a merchant said to the woman.

"Lady" Myrcella heard her septa repeat.

The woman smiled and bowed to the merchant, as she turned around she noticed Myrcella and her small group, recognizing them she gave them a warm smile and walked up to them.

"Greetings, my name is Myrcella of your Baratheon" Myrcella introduced herself to the woman

The woman bowed." Good evening, my name is Asuna, second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath" she said before pausing "I'm also the Lady of the nearby lands" Asuna introduced herself to Myrcella and her small gathering

A strange pause set in until Mycella heard her septa speak "Forgive my rudeness Lady Asuna, but I must know. Why would a lady buy her own crops and I assume that you cook your own meals"

Asuna smiled and let out a breath " I was afraid that I would have to be really reserved, but I like cooking my families meals and its a breach from managing both the lands and some of the knight's doings" Asuna answered in a relaxed more natural tone.

"Today my daughter will return from her first day of school, so I'm going to prepare something special" Asuna told the septa.

"Excuse me, but why do you carry a water dancers sword?" Myrcella asked Asuna as she pointed at the sword at the woman's hip.

Asuna looked down and in one motion drew the sword, in what felt like a second Myrcella was pushed back and her guard stood between her self, her septa and her servants, all of the knights had their swords drawn and it was almost as if they always had them that way.

"Put your swords down" Myrcella ordered her guard, the men did so reluctantly.

"My lady, look around you" a guard said as he moved his head slightly to the right and Myrcella felt her eyes widen, right behind Lady Asuna, were multiple knights dressed in white, the woman's had never been walking alone.

"Put them down" Asuna ordered her guard, the men reluctantly did so.

"Care to accompany Lady Myrcella" Asuna asked Myrcella, who in turn simply bowed her head at the woman


	20. Chapter 20

An uneasy silence settled in and for a long moment no other sound could be heard except for the armored boots of the knights as they walked next to them, where before there the sounds of merchants, loudly boasting about their items, or animals making some sort of noise, now no one dared to make a single noise.

To her left was her personal guard wearing their red cloaks steel helmets and breastplates, that had boil leather attach to them, they had been specially chosen because they were quick on their feet and equally as quick to fight, if the matter was needed.

For a moment Myrcella wonders if her grandfather had made a mistake, she could clearly remember seeing Lady Asuna's sword being drawn, the blade was polished and well kept, except there were scratches all over it.

She had once spoken to a guard when she was younger, there wasn't any reason for it, she was just curious, as to why the man would cover his sword in oil and move a smooth stone over it.

Now she knew that it was to smooth away the scratches, the sword gets after its use, she had also learned that day, that few knights actually keep their swords sharpened, why that was the case the guard didn't say.

Her grandfather had summoned for the man, so he was forced to excuse himself.

Still, Myrcella wondered if ber guard had send something, that she herself had been entirely ignorant to, after all, why else would they have placed themselves between lady Asuna and herself.

Then there was the matter of Lady Asunas guard, the men were quick and now that Myrcella thought about it, she had clearly seen their white armors as she walked about the city.

A thought briefly entered her mind, one that was highly possible but also highly doubtful. "Had the men been watching her every move?"

Despite her thoughts Myrcella found that the sound of footsteps had stopped and as she turned to look at Lady Asuna, she found the woman was looking in the direction of a small shop.

"Care to have some tea" Asuna asked her, there was a moment of uncertainty in the woman's voice, like if she was wondering something important.

Marcella simply lowered her head and answered. "I would be delighted to"

The guards, the servants and even her Septa stood on each other side, not bothering to take any seats, perhaps not wanting to cause any miss understandings, or perhaps they were preparing themselves to run/fight if the matter was needed.

Soon the owner of the shop arrived carrying tables and chairs with him and several women accompanied him doing the same.

Chairs were set up and offered to all of those present.

Sd Myrcella looked at the white armors of Lady Asunas guard, she noticed that there was a hint of sadness in their eyes, like when someone loses a person they loved or had gone thru something so painful that no physical injury could compare to it.

Each side took their seat and waited for a hot cup of tea to be served to them.

The tension between the two groups could be felt by all those present, so much so that even the shop's owner and his two women were nervous around them.

"I apologize if I startled you, but I was only trying to show you my sword." Lady Asuna said to Myrcella.

For a moment Myrcella looked down and noticed the sword that was now attached to the woman's waist.

"Forgive my guard, they were only doing their job" Myrcella answers Lady Asuna, neither truly apologized for anything, this was nothing more than a formality.

Again the uneasy tension began to see in, only disturbed by her septa loud slurping of the hot drink.

"Ahhh" the woman said as she finished her cup and asked for another, in that one moment, the tension between the two groups was gone and if it was still present Myrcella could not feel it anymore.

Lady Asuna let out a small but genuine smile before becoming quiet and closing her eyes.

"I know what your thinking why would a lady buy or cook her own meal, I already explained the cooking part but, I have yet to explain why, I'm out and bout."

"You see it's good to go out for a walk and see how people are doing, it gets boring being at home all day or simply doing work. Plus, some animalsanimals, caused some problems in the nearby lands and as a result most of the harvest was lost" Lady Asuna said to her, there was no reason for the woman to tell her.

Yet it was for that reason that she was telling her, it was simply common knowledge here, something that one would know about, by hearing merchants or the people themselves speak about it.

"But if the crops were lost, how is it that you have such an abundance of it?" Her septa asked Lady Asuna.

The woman just smiled "I didn't say all the crops were lost, some of us decided to let the villagers keep what harvest is left and we decided to buy our own for a while. The people keep eating and we lose little to no funds" Asuna answered her septa.

"Now it makes sense" Myrcella thought to herself as she took a sip of her tea.

Her grandfather had done something simelar to this, according to him it was pointless to have the little people starve to death, when one could avoid it. They were the ones that did all of the manual tasks after all.

In the surface, what Lady Asuna had done may have seemed kind, in reality it was a calculated move to keep people under control.

The rest of the day the two spoke to one another only in calm voices, until it had become late enough that Lady Asuna had to excuse herself, it was then that Mycella realized something.

No one in their group had put any silver- copper or gold, they had simply sat down and drunk the mans present merchandise and left, without a care for the store owner and his employs.

For a brief moment Mycella turned to look back at the small shop and noticed a man wearing a white armor handing the man a bag filled with coins.

(Elsewhere )

A masked man sat next to a woman, she wouldn't be able to remember who had been with her in this room after a few hours, several spies and even a few assassins had been either captured or eliminated.

Now only a few of them remained, who the others were working for, he didn't know, nor did he care. As things stood, he had to give this new found information to his employer.

(Character change)

Night was approaching quickly and Tywin knew that he didn't have the luxury to sleep tonight, he had ordered the Mountain to keep watch outside his room, now not even the servants would be allowed to enter.

He looked down for a moment and let out a small smile, his granddaughter was sleeping comfortably, right now the two of them were in the most danger than before, any deals could be stopped with their deaths and a simple attack could start an unnecessary war.

The servants and the minor lords were expendable, none of them held power anywhere near what the two commanded, if anything happened to his granddaughter than her father would react, if anything happened to him, everyone under him would attack the island.

It was, for this reason, he himself had come to this strange place, unfortunately, the island had proven itself to strange and to odd to leave his granddaughter behind.

No, he hadn't even left the city but he could already tell, that this place despite how the lords wanted to show its power and peace, was anything but it.

The guards that regularly patrol, the ongoing fights and the fact that the people keep dangerous animals close to them all proved one thing.

This island was anything but safe, the fact that only a few elders if any amongst the nobility remained further strengthens his belief and it was the fact that no one seemed to fear the knights that walked about, only made his suspicions stronger.

But it had been the one new thing that had been agreed upon that made Tywin know that this island was nothing more than a death trap.

It was the fact, that the people here, offered the materials to build a defensive wall between the mainland and the island. Why would both sides need to build a defensive wall, unless they wanted to keep something from getting out.

The fact that it was the strangers that suggested the wall to defend only made his suspicions into facts. The people here were afraid of something, what it was Tywin didn't know, but what he did know was that it would not be getting out.


	21. Chapter 21

(Character change Moredred)

The wind blew as she walked closer to the city, while cool and refreshing, it was far from the cold air that existed in the floors below, the sun had finally set and the two moons had taken the sky.

"Two Moons" she thought to herself, as she briefly wondered where or when exactly she was. The city was quiet and now only the guards were out and about, those few that didn't follow the curfew were either criminals, young lovers that snuck away in a lust filled craze, drunks or merchants that had a quota to fill and needed to work through the night.

Still the only sound that could be heard through the city streets, were the sounds of her armor boots as she walked through the streets. The slight pin noise they made, was almost haunting when there was no other sound to be found anywhere.

She stopped for a moment, there was a slight sound at the distance and she found it was a mixture of strings, cups and people singing. A slight smile crossed her face, she could use a drink, her father wouldn't listen to what she had to say until morning anyway, so she might as well pass the night drinking and enjoying the commeners company.

A few weeks ago, all of the wars had ended, all of the fighting, the monster attacks, the sieges and the assassinations, had just stopped.

Like if a massive hand had been brought down upon everyone, but that didn't mean that peace have been secured. No, soon stories of monsters moving in number never thought imaginable began to spread by the merchants talking and a collective chill spread through the people's spines, when they discovered that their lands were now greater and shooter than they remembered.

The fields had grown, but in places where oceans once boarded the lands, now vast fields existed, if it wasn't a fielded, it was a thick forest.

The change of the lands brought a number of headaches one of them being the fact that the fishermen had nearly lost the only way for them to make ends meat and feed their families. Then came the headache, of having to drag all of those boats into the nearby rivers, that were somehow big enough to fit several Galeon sized ships.

The farmers now had to fend off strange worms that ate their crops, but after a starving man ate one of the strange worms and found its meat to be pleasant, people began to farm the odd creatures.

It was as if the Gods had given their blessings, the only troubling thing was the fact that their home was now placed somewhere on the side of a mountain and the higher they went, the stronger the creatures became, until it was impossible to go any further.

It was so dangerous in fact, that even her father had declared that no one would go any further, for to do so was certain death.

She finally arrived at the tavern and like usual she would drink alone, she often did so, not even be fellow knights dared to drink with her, it wasn't their felt, in her younger years she would lash out at everyone that looked at her the wrong way and because of that she was completely alone now.

She drank her first cup, then her second and finally her third, when man wearing red armor sat in front of her, the man had short spiky hair and wore a bandana, that was tied to his head.

"Hey mind if I sit here, all of the other chairs are taken?" The man asked with a wide smile.

She looked at him and lowered her head giving him her approval, she had never seen this knight before, perhaps he was new. She didn't particularly care for the man existence, but it wasn't until the man drank his fourth cup and put it down loudly that she even bothered to look at him again.

"There caught up to you, so how about it, the loser pays for the drinks" he said as he looked at her in the eyes.

Normally she would have struck the man down for his arrogance, but today she was only here for a drink, so if the fool wanted to pay for it than so be it.

The next day she woke up inside a hotel naked, stinking like alcohol and with a massive bill, next to her, the bill was stuck to a note.

"Thanks for paying for the drinks, don't worry I already paid for the room and left some extra if you want to eat something while your there. Sincerely Klein.

She lowered her head on to the pillow, she had lost her chastity in a drunken act, it was certainly better than what most women would get, considering she couldn't remember anything of what had happened.

But that man, he would die, first she would force him into submission, then she would kill him. He was both the bravest man she had ever met and the stupidest man she had ever met... He was only man with the guts to do something like this.

Moredred just looked at the ceiling, she would worry about it later, now she would worry about it later.

(Character change Tywin Lannister )

They had left early, far earlier than most would have and it was only because his lands were so close by that he was even standing on his side of the border, currently, he was headed home, Myrcella was sleeping comfortably.

He had dismissed the minor lords beneath him, letting them go attend to the dealings of their lands and he had ordered the unneeded servants to stay behind, they had been chosen either because they were expendable or because they were useful.

He had kept the useful ones and abandoned the useless ones.

Still, he didn't have the luxury of relaxing, even if those on the island would invade anytime soon, it didn't mean that the dealings within the seven kingdoms stopped, so like ideal he found himself looking through various pieces of information, that were too urgent to be ignored.

His eyes hardened as he read a letter detailing the events that occurred, his grandson had acted like a drunken fool and attacked the Stark girl, the younger one and in an attempt to defend the girl, her let wolf had attacked him.

In retaliation, his daughter had the pet of the stark girl's sister killed, when the younger of the two had chased her own pet away.

Now there was a rift between the two sisters, not only that but a son of the Starks had been attacked by an assassin, the problems only grew when one took into note that the assailant had a knife his very own dwarf son owned.

Still one had to wonder what exactly had happened on that island, what exactly could have killed nearly all of the elders within the knight houses, only a few of them remained and the fact that elders did exist amongst the lower classes, only meant that the deaths were exclusion to those in power.

Perhaps someone had taken over and put them to the sword and as a result the children of those houses were the only ones left.

But that wouldn't explain, why the people beneath them lived so happily, unless something, not someone was responsible for whatever catastrophe had occurred.

It would certainly explain, why the look that every knight held, was the kind one only sees on those that had already fought on the battlefield and experienced a great loss


	22. Chapter 22

(Character change Arthur/ia Pendragon)

Her breast hurt for anyone else such a thought would have been pointless, in reality, such a thought was even more meaningless, considering it was someone in her position, yet for as worthless as this thought was, it was worth its weight in gold.

Her throne room was dark, only the guards were present and even they did their best not to slouch. Before battles, plans and are needed to be fought, all of that was gone now and she found herself with more free time, than what she knew what to do with.

She still wore her combat dress, if nothing more than for show, something that felt comfortable, familiar.

Before she could get by, by wearing a round breastplate and armor that covered her from legs to her head and when she was in her kingdom, she simply spread the summer that, the king let her hold court as he had more important things to do.

It was her council's sheer loyalty, that helped keep up this ruse and her men. She smiled as she remembered everyone beneath her, these men would lay down their lives for her and where other kingdoms would worry about them plotting against them, she had no such worries.

In fact, even the lowest of slaves inside the castle proved their loyalty to her in one way or another.

Perhaps this was the reason why she was up in this ungodly hour, it was too peaceful.

In her life she had learned that when things are calm, its nothing more than the opening act for horrible event to happen.

It was a testament to the amount of peace her kingdom was experiencing, that she was even able to spare a second for such pointless thoughts and yet she could enjoy it.

The sound of admired boots reached her ears, by the way the person walked she knew who it was and that man seemed strangely relaxed and at the same time irritated, how anyone managed to do that was beyond her, but here she was thinking about pointless things, while worrying about pointless things, so who was she to judge.

The door to her throne room opened and her face returned to the stoic expression, she usually showed to all her men.

"Mordred, I assume you had no problems, tell me what have you discovered" she spoke to the young knight in front of her, rhe man wore a white armor, that covered him from head to toe, while this helmet seemed to be adorned with the horns of a greater bull.

Mordred paused for a moment before kneeling and beginning to speak.

"My lord, I have found troubling things in the lands below. While true that few have bought anything from the merchants, its only due, to the fact that someone else had already provided to them the materials, they usually purchase from them."

"The lower kingdoms are intact, there is no harm to them, the only difference is a few newly constructed roads here and there, however, in the lesser lands things have changed greatly."

"The villages and towns at the edges of their borders are now connected by two sorts of roads, one which merchants, soldiers and the people themselves use and another that is routinely patrolled, by a few guards. The later is built in such away, that if one was to attack it those inside, they would open themselves to the defends attacks."

"The cities are now reinforced by both rune covered stones, as well as materials that our spies have yet to identify. Golems now guard both the front and back entrances of each city. While knights that seem to have come from nowhere have taken over those once free lands" Mordred said before I interrupted him.

"Are they any threat to us?" I asked Mordred.

"No." Answered a voice that seemed to come out of every direction.

"From what I could gather, they care nothing for kingdoms, kings, queens, princes and princesses, in fact anything resembling such things is kept at a distance by them." A masked man said as he emerged from the shadows.

She raised an eyebrow wordlessly asking the man a question. "My king, while true they are both fortifying thei lands and increasing both their defenses and warriors, its purely so that they can keep the creatures that dwell in the nearby lands away.

"So they are of no threat" Arthur/Arthuria said, before pausing and dismissing the two. As they both reached the doors, she allowed a faint smile to cross her face.

"Mordred, I can smell both the alcohol and the sent of a woman. If you're going to do such things, make sure the girl remembers you." She said to Mordred, the poor boy left not knowing what to say or do, so he simply chose .

It was amusing to mess with the boy, well that was one problem out of the way, now all she had to worry about, was the reports of strange knights, that searched for dungeons, caves, towers and so on, that seemed hellbent on going up the mountain.

(Character change Asuna)

Yui was eating her fried rice eagerly, seeing her daughters tiny for gobble down her meal only made her smile more, Kazuto said that the threat of the Pegacorns was gone and that the clean-up crew, was only going to look around for any more spies or large group of monsters.

Soon the three of them could go back home, Asuna let out a small humm, soon she would no longer be the second in command of the Knights of the blood oath, she couldn't help manage the people, raise her adopted daughter and lead a group of knights.

No, her combat days were over, in fact Kazuto or Kirito as people still called him by his avatars name, would remain amongst the cleaners, if only to make some extra for when times became tough.

The death game had been hard on the two of them and neither one of them wanted to have to do with something like it again, so they both chose to split their duties. She would manage the home and raising their daughter, while he would both help train the next generation and clean out any mess that might be happening close by.

As hard as things may have been for them, it must have not compared to what you must have gone thru, the little one couldn't even remember her family and any attempts to find any trace of them was lost.

They had to rely on word of mouth, the occasional report of some missing or dead person mysteriously being found nearby a village or town.

It was amazing just how much room in her heart, her daughter had taken up in such short time, but nonetheless she was now her daughter, a tyni girl that had to get ready for school. She had comeback so excited, hoping to tell her what she had learned and who she had met.

When Yui first saw Kirito/Kazuto, her first instinct was I run up to him and have the man carry her around the mansion.

Asuna hoped these peaceful days never ended.


	23. Chapter 23

(Elsewhere )

The sounds of the constant beeping was nearly hypnotic and incredibly annoying, Heathcliff looked down at the roles upon roles of corpses in front of him, before him were the many dead of Sword Art Online.

Granted that none of them were dead now, but nonetheless, they were entirely out of his reach, the castle was protecting them, he had lost his administrative capacities, making him no different than everyone else around him.

Even if he knew the secrets of the castle, they were meaningless now, for him to use just one would trigger the castles self-preservation system and force him into hiding.

So he was forced to watch every possible test subject that woke up, to be teleported away, near one guild/team or another, with every person that banish meant that both the people and the castle grew stronger, both in their defenses and in their skills.

This wasn't a game anymore, so those that were sick of all of the fighting, simply chose to move on with their lives

As infuriating as any of this might be, the fact that so many unknowns existed, opened world for new previously undiscovered possibilities.

The Lord that had just left, proved something extremely valuable, there was a world beyond his castle and what little lands could be seen, not only that the fact that multiple other kingdoms were scattered about, made it possible for him to see history unfold right before his eyes.

Time moved slowly as he wondered what else had changed, while true there were kingdoms inside the castle itself, he found that both their histories and their people, were nothing new to him, he knew every single one of them.

"Perhaps it's time to explore the nearby seas." Heathcliff said to himself, as he remembered the nearby islands, that were said to be filled with pirates.

He would send out a small group to make contact with them and if they were attacked and both players and pirates died, it would certainly be the pirate's fault, after all those extremely few people only went there to say hello.

If the pirates took offense to them, well that would be their problem.

It would be interesting to see how both the players and the people on the mainland would react to this, on one side the players could lay siege, but the likelihood of that happening would be low. The people on the mainland wouldn't care, unless it affected theme, in some way.

No the deciding factor in all of this, would be whatever the pirates chose to do, if it was simply staying on their boats and islands, then nothing would happen, but should they attack, it would force the players to retaliate and it would only be then, when the mainlanders would take notice.

Heathcliff watched another person move, before banishing, another player has just woken up, another person slips thru his fingers.

This was frustrating to see.

(Character change Kirito)

The sound of his sword making contact with the orcs battle ax, echoed through the battlefield, around him were the rest of the cleanup team each fighting back to back, holding off both the orcs and the goblins alike.

They had come to the bordering town, when the stories of missing women and children reached their ears, what they found, however, was the stuff of nightmares.

The captured women were used as breeding material, whether they were human or animal didn't matter, the result was the results were the same, the orc or goblin children are their way out of their mother's wombs.

The sight may have been disturbing and they would have filled the caves with flammable gases, before lighting a spark and watching as the twisted abominations burned to death. There was no point on going in to rescue anyone, if there were any survivors, just getting to them was nearly impossible.

The sheer amount of enemies before them was ridiculous, so they were forced to call for help, a true extermination force was needed for this. Unfortunately, the enemy had seen them and wasted no time in attacking the cleaners.

So here they were fighting for their lives, for them, nothing had changed, they were still in that death game, only that this time there was no promise of freedom.

They had been fighting for hours, be knew that because the sun was now high into the sky and when they had started this mission, the sun hadn't even fully come out. Suddenly a spear flew right past Kiritos head, killing an Orc that was inches from him.

"Roooo!" Screamed a beast and with the sound of a stamped thousands of minotaurs, riding on the backs of centaurs charged into the battlefield.

"Roar!" The orcs responded as a large group of orcs separated themselves and met the charging monsters.

Suddenly the sound of hundreds of guns firing resonated with the sounds of battle and beastly roars.

Kori to instantly knew that reinforcements had finally arrived

Kori to dodged an orcs club being swung towards him, only for the club to be stopped by a minotaurs spear, a goblin threw itself onto the defending minotaur, only for a gunshot to knock it off the air.

A senator brought down his warhammer, only for Kirito to block it with his twin swords. The fighting continued until once again the sun began to set and when night finally came the various cave and tunnels were set ablaze.

The screams of monsters, animals and people choking to death before being burned alive, took over the night, only the players remained.

Kirito just whipped the blood-drenched mud off his face and hoped to be able to wash before returning to Asuna's side, his only wish right now was to see Yui's smiling face, as he carried her in his arms.


	24. Chapter 24

Kirito looked around the battlefield and he noticed how several of the players were already gathering the enemies dropped weapons, it was dangerous to leave them behind, the smell of blood alone attracted creatures that were better kept unarmed.

Things such as gold, silver, potions and useful materials whatever those would end up being, would be gathered by the people of Aincrad and carried back to the village/towns, depending on the situation, the players would be paid in either materials, upgraded weapons, armor, or by simple gold.

The truth of the matter was that most players didn't want anything right now, just how many innocent people had they just killed, even if all of the bodies present were that of monsters and the only things that remained of the human women and children, were bones and mutilated corpses, it still didn't sit right with any of the scouts.

There are three kinds of patrols scouts, made of people that are still going up the castle, cleaners, which he was apart of, players that deal with the problems that show up before they reach the borders of whatever town or village, they might be near of.

The last was made of soldiers from the people of Aincrad and the players that chose to stop fighting but admitted that even if they wanted to, the world was so dangerous that they never could truly put away their swords.

Granted this change wasn't anything major and no one really noticed it, considering how things were originally done, but nonetheless, they were changes even if they were insignificant ones.

One by one the players began to enter the still smoking tunnels, when the fires were ignited, the force of the fire was so strong, that in several areas it just tore thru the ground itself and shot straight into the sky.

The teams would split up, half would go into the tunnels and the other half would inspect the surface, they could use teleporting crystals to get to whoever needed help, so the feeling of desperation wasn't there anymore.

Still, they had to do this, the chances of monsters still being alive inside these tunnels was far to greater and even if none were alive inside these immediate tunnels, the scouts still had to go back and inspect every cave in the immediate area.

So for hours, they walked inside the tunnels, passing by orcs, goblins, both young and old, either dead or dying, thankfully no human remains were found, at least no none mutilated remains were found.

There a feeling a person gets, when they realize just how much another person must-have suffered, its like if an invisible blade cut right thru a person soul and the pain is excruciating, despite being an emotional, as well as physiological reaction, the effects were still felt physically.

There was no way for any of the women to be identified and even if there was, would any of them have any family members left and who amongst the scouts would be willing to tell, a mother, a father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle about the fate of the person they had been looking for.

They all teleported to the surface and found that the other players had prepared buckets filled with water for them to wash off all of the blood and guts.

It would be dawn soon and when the people came to pick up what was left, it would be only when they finished that any of the scouts would get any real rest, before continuing the inspection of the nearby caves.

Granted the scouts were a mismatched bunch of players that varied levels, but things like this took a time on a person, so they all needed to rest, regardless of how strong they may have been.

A single scout was sent back and she was meant to make a very specific order.

So as wet rags were dropped into the buckets and immediately after the sound of water falling before the players whipped the blood off their faces, armors and areas Kirito didn't even know how they eve manage to get there, none of them noticed a masked figure watching them from a distance.

The masked figure continued to watch even as the sun rose and the people began to pick up the remains of the dead, he watched as a single knight who wore a green armor returned accompanied by several wagons each pulling right coffins behind them.

When the wagons stopped, a group of monks walked into the tunnels accompanied by several guards, soon one by one the coffins were taken into the tunnels, before being pulled back out.

The masked figure watched as the coffins ran out and the adventurers cut down several trees just to make a few more coffins, the dead were so many that the adventurers and the people themselves were forced to drag some of the coffins themselves.

The masked figure continued to watch until the sound of chains moving behind him reached his ears.

"Tell me, man of the kingdom who's name I do not know. Why do you spy on my brothers and sisters?" A knight wearing gray armor spoke to him.

The masked man wasn't sure if the man could see him, after all the knight wasn't even looking in his direction.

"Not in the mood to speak, I'm afraid that you will find that dealing with the Army, is considerably different than dealing with regular players." The knight said, before he swung his sword with enough force, that it cut down the nearby trees around him, exposing the masked man's location.

The masked man moved quickly, he hadn't lived this long without having to kill an opponent in direct combat, however, as he threw himself at the knight whose armor resembled dented rough gray metal, a second swordsman interrupted his attack, forcing him back.

The sound of a miniature explosion was the only warning he received and it was because of his skills of an assassin alone, that he managed to don't the attack add at his legs. The masked man knew when he was beaten, so he reached into his bound with the shadows and used them to teleport away.

The players/adventurers of the Army guild simply stood still waiting for an attack that never came and it was only after a minute had passed that they knew, that it was safe to move about freely again.

"He didn't look like anyone from any of the floors we know." Said one of the players.

"I know, that only means one of three things, either its someone from the mainland, its someone from the floors above, or there's a specialized group somewhere we still haven't found." Answered Thinker the leader of the Army guild.

"Should we inform the rest of the guilds?" asked another player

Thinker simply bowed his head giving his approval


	25. Chapter 25

The sound church bell could be heard all over town, the bells were loud enough to be heard by the surrounding villages, the sound of each bell, seemed to somehow express the feelings of pain and loss, every time the sound was heard, it was like a person's heart was breaking.

Kirito sat near the entrance to the town, behind his the pair of guards that watched over the main gate kept looking at him with eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

Right now he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, weren't within the areas controls by the player, no, like it or not they were inside the borders of one of the kingdoms inside Aincrad, they chose to rest there for two reasons, one the nearest lands controlled by players, was the one the Army held under their power.

The other reason because of the close proximity between the two powers neither one wanted to start any trouble with the other, so players were free to come and go as they please, as long as they didn't cause any problems.

A large funeral was being held for all of the dead, unfortunately, there were a lot more missing people than the ones that were found.

Kirito reached out and touched the small window allowing his help screen to come out, he began to replay his daughters first day of school, anyone else that saw him would think that he was just moving his hand around like an idiot and smiling like an insane man.

Being a cleaner was stressful work, so a lot of them would take vacations every now and then when things became too much for them, some people would go spend some time in one of local whorehouses, others would spend time with their guilds, some people even simply visited quiet areas where they could be alone.

That was just how stressful the job was and if no one did it, then all of the things they fought, would one day reach their homes, that thought alone made a lot of players uncomfortable.

For obvious reasons most of the players were men and a lot of them had taken liking to one or two village girls and from what Kirito heard, the feelings were mutual.

"Care for a sugar?" Asked a knight one whose name Kirito didn't know, from the information on the man's screen, his name was Lancelot, everything else however was hidden.

"I heard about your battle with the creatures, forgive me for being so rude, but if you would allow me to know, just how exactly did you players manage to defeat them all. The orcs and goblins alone would have been a prolonged fight one that would have lasted for weeks." Asked Lancelot

"We didn't fight fairly and we used underhanded tactics." Kirito answered the man, however, he didn't bother to elaborate more than what was needed.

Lancelot simply smiled. "I see. So what were you remembering? From the way you moved and the expression on your face, either you were looking at something or you were remembering the past, a loved one perhaps." Lancelot continued.

Kirito looked at the man for a long moment before closing his eyes and smiling, he moved his hand in the air and allowed his help screen to be displayed before the knight.

"Illusionary magic" Lancelot immediately said.

"My daughter, it was her first day of school." Kirito said as the image of several teens marching passed and smaller children walked behind them, trying to imitate they way they marched. However soon the video showed a bunch of little children who's feet moved as fast as they could, just to be able to keep up with their elders.

Lancelot smiled faintly, understanding that this, this was something precious to Kirito.

The sound of a spark igniting a cigar made Kirito turn to look at the ma besides him, as the man took a puff of his cigar he offered another to Kirito, however, Kirito to just rejected the mans offer.

"...Are there more out there?" Lancelot asked.

"I don't know" Kirito immediately answers the man and an uneasy silence settled in between the two men, even as the sounds of funeral bells echoed in the background.

(Character change Asuna)

Asuna smiled as she spoke with the people around the city, most of the guards were gone, now only a few stayed behind to help keep a form of protection around her.

She was busy buying things like lumber, tools and things that villages usually needed just to get buy. She enjoyed her time speaking to the merchants and listening to them as they tried sweet talk her into buying overly expensive items or things she really didn't need.

Despite this she was getting the hand of managing the expenses of her land, granted she hadn't ruled over anything or even stayed on that land for an extended period of time, still there was a familiarity to it all.

Perhaps all of the paperwork or work that seemed to pile up regardless of how much she completed, reminded her of her life before entering Sword Art Online, back when the only thing she cared about, was getting good grades.

Things such as friends and extra activities were meaningless to her back then, it spoke a lot about her situation in life, that the first friend she ever made was inside the game.


	26. Chapter 26

Her mother had been someone that came from a humble background, but had grown to dislike the life she had, tot he point that whenever her mother spoke about the past, she spoke about it in disgust.

Her father had been the C.E.O of a company, in fact it was the one companys that had investind increasing Sword Art Online to begin with, so a lot had away been demanded from her.

It had been a strict childhood, not a bad one, just one she didn't wish for her own children. So she would learn from the actions of her parents, she would be firm, but soft, willing to lay down the law when her children did something wrong, but she would certainly not remind them of their failures constantly.

It was no secret to anyone that she was leaving the Knights of the Blood Oath, but as second in command, she knew many of the guilds secrets, so she couldn't be allowed to simply leave, at least not until things changed so much, that her information, was so outdated that it was completely useless.

So she was left with a couple of guards.

Even as she walked down the street, Asuna couldn't help herself but remember, her first female friend, she had been a petty girl, altho Asuna coulnt remember the girls name, she did remember, that the girl use to be a member of a computer club.

It was getting late and preparations for the villagers to return needed to be made and completed by the end of the week, it was almost time to prepare Yui's lounch, there was something special, in seeing her daughter eat her food so happily.

Asuna wished these days would never end.

(Character change )

Mordred found herself walking around, the day had been frustrating to say the least, she had drunken too much the day before and as a result, she was forced to deal with a hangover all day.

That much she could endure, after all she had gone out for drinks before, but it was the memory of that man that had bedded her that kept her mind spinning.

Who was he? What house has that kind of armor? How can I break every bone in his body? Should I kill him quickly or should his death be a prolonged torture? Things like that kept coming to mind.

It didn't help matters, that no one seemed to know who he was and even when she had the servants look for the sigil of his house, no one could find anything at all.

So that left only two possibilities, one the man wasn't from the kingdom and was, in fact, a traveler, whatever kind of traveler he may have been it didn't matter.

The other possibility, was that his house was so pathetically low that no one cared to remember it, no doubt that he could belong to a family that had no land, no influence and no power whatsoever.

This would make the man absolutely worthless in all matters concerning the crown and yet despite this Mordred found herself thinking about the man.

Normally she would have been walking around in her armor, but her mood wouldn't allow it, if anyone had seen her leave, they wouldn't say a word, to them, she was nothing more, than a random woman a knight had decided to bed.

So whoever saw her, would have thought she had failed her porous and been told to leave.

So as she walked around in her spare red armor, she found herself getting more and more frustrated as the memory of that man, whose name she couldn't even remember kept coming back.

So as the smell of pork reached her nose, she decided that perhaps something to eat would help her mood, had she known what she would find when she entered the small house she would have charged in sword in hand.

The moment she enter the house, she found herself looking directly at the cause of her frustration. The man was happily eating alongside a group of other men, they drank and ate happily thought a care in the world.

The man must have sensed her presence for he briefly looked up and waved at her, the way he did so indicate that he wanted her to join them.

Mordred did so, not because the man had called out to her, but simply because she was fully intended in breaking his skull.

The rest of the men looked at the fool with looks of confusion, only for him to introduce her to them.

"Guys meet Mordred, Mordred meet the Fuurinkazan." He introduced them to each other, despite still having a mouth full of food.

The man swallowed before stopping and grinning at her "Do here for round two." He asked.

Mordred for her part simply looked at him, he wanted to break his neck, but if she did so now, the king would undoubtedly find out, so that she was a woman would not only be known, but the fact that she had killed for no reason, would severely stain her name.

"Rules" was the only thing she said.

"Same as last time, only this time it's with food," the man said as he placed a large bag filled with silver on the table.

"Waite id you two are going to do this, let's make it a fair fight. That means no putting strange things inside peoples food, to make them stop eating or make them go shit and before anyone says anything, the beer doesn't count as food." A fat man said to them.

And so the two began to eat, they are so much that with all the ruckus the men were making, a group had begun to gather, soon the cheering voices of the little people, as well as the voices of the servants of the restaurant began to mix.

Mordred found herself, gasping for air, she had never truly eaten her fill, at least not when other people were around, no humans tended to have small stomachs, so they didn't eat as much and yet the fool was keeping up with her.

Soon their plates began to become towers of their own and Mordred was beginning to worry she would actually lose this, the man had proven himself to be a worthy opponent, suddenly the sound of something hitting the table loudly made her turn her head.

The man had fallen he had eaten too much and was turning green, she had won, unfortunately, she had eaten so much, that she wasn't in any mood to fight anymore, now she just wanted to sleep.

"Sorry for all the ruckus" a man said as he gave the restaurant owner the bag filled with silver, "Give whatever is left to everyone here, that way none of it goes to waste."

Mordred didn't care who spoke those words right now all she wanted to do was go home and digest.


	27. Chapter 27

Kirito exited the inn, he had rented a room for the night and spent the majority of it in the chatroom with Asuna, it always felt like if the burden on him was lifted if only a little whenever he laid eyes on her, even if it was by using the help screen.

It had been late into the night, around the point where it stopped being night and it started becoming twilight, when the Army sent in its report, they hadn't found any more monsters in the immediate area, the surface was apparently safe, underground, however, that was for the cleaners to find out.

Apparently, someone had been spying on them during the cleaners high with the monsters, but the man had managed to get away before the army could interrogate him.

There had been spies and assassins popping up from time to time and they would either kill themselves or vanish into the shadows, before the players could find out anything useful from them.

Normally the cleaners wouldn't go into any of the caves considering it was still pretty dark outside, but it was better to get a head start for something like this, especially considering that a large number of cleaners, were gathered in one area.

His team along with several others were already gathered at the entrance of the town, they were waiting for those few people that had overlap, of course, he was one of them and the rest of the player's eyes told him they would remind him of this.

So as they waited for the last of the group to arrive, hot drinks were passed around, it was better not to eat anything, the smell of the dead or at least what they would see, would make them lose the contents in their stomachs.

So the majority of them only drank hot liquids.

The inspection would be done by three groups the Army would check out a group of caves on their side of the border, the guard of the kingdom would inspect the caves in their side, while the cleaners would handle the few that remained.

This cut the workload for all of them and it made sure that if at least one group needed help, the others could provide it, if their areas were secure.

So as the last member of their group arrived the cleaners left the town behind.

(Character change )

Tywin Lannister stood over the old master, ever since the had returned from that island the old man had thrown himself into his work, the old man had already gone thru several stacks of skins and ink and yet Tywin found himself intrigued.

One set of parchments, showed the design for a type of device that could launch several large arrows into the sky, the arrows themselves were odd to say the least, the reason being was simple and excruciatingly complicated.

Once the arrows reached a certain hight, they would open up and rain down several smaller ones on the enemy.

Images depicting the designs for windmills, that could be joined with a type of water system and provide water for every home available and if not every home then by the very least the center of any town or village.

This would device alone, would solve any issues that could come up during times of drought.

Instructions on how to build quick buildings, using only the trees around them, that could be turned into quick defenses for any prolonged sieges, were only a few of the things being drawn by the old master.

One of the things that would secure funds for his lands was a kind of layered clothing, the top would keep the person covered, while the inside would keep the individual warm. It was a coat, but a much more complex kind than the ones, the seven kingdoms had at the moment.

The fact that this method could be applied to one's trousers was only a bonus.

Yet for all of this Tywin couldn't hope but wonder what else those people knew, no one allowed strangers access to such valuable information, unless this was common knowledge for all of them, Tywin didn't want to think about the implications of that alone.

Each one of the designs brought in by the old master, could and would propel the Lannisters forward by decades, sure Tywin would share this with the rest of the seven kingdoms, but it would either be by selling it to them or only after his own territory, was so far ahead of everyone else that they couldn't possibly catch up.

Tywin allowed himself to briefly wonder about the events happening in Kings Landing, where the King was having a small festival, to celebrate his newly appointed hand.

His granddaughter had long since left to see her father, the king and Tywin hoped the girl would remain safe. The moment of weakness had passed and Tywin continued to look thru the designs, searching for anything that could be developed at this moment in time.

He stopped at a simple drawing, it was a crossbow bit one whose string was pulled by gears and the crossbow itself, could be attached to a persons wrist. From what Tywin could see the device was too big and to heavy, for it to be of any real use, but it was the devices mechanisms that caught his eye.

What could they be made to do, besides working for a simple now and arrow? He wondered


	28. Chapter 28

(Character change)

Kirito walked down the naturally carved cave tunnels, his only source of light was the torches he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, carried with them. That had been walking for hours and still no sign of the enemy, it was only due to the fact that their help screens created a map of the area that any of them, even dared going so deep into the darkness.

From time to time, they would find themselves in a dead end and be forced to turnaround and go down another path, it was strange even the Army was finding itself having to go down strange twists and turns, from time to time.

Normally, this wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary, except that when the players arrived at one of the dead ends, dragon scales litter the cave floors.

The smell of ash, completely took over and the stale unclear are that existed below ground would be completely gone, by that point.

From time to time, the cave walls would glow and become hot, yet theg would instantly cool, in such a speed that they almost seemed like if they would turn to ice.

"Area secure" someone from the Army announced.

"Nothing on our part" a member of the native's kingdom spoke to them by communications crystal.

"Yeah, same here" answered one of the leaders of the various team's.

The mood amongst the cleaners began to lighten up, by no means were they anywhere near any form of safety, after all, they were still underground and there were a variety of monsters that could burrow.

But with the main threat gone, the large group of people, felt that with their numbers some form of securely could exist.

Kirito along with everyone else, began to walk out of the cave and as the group of cleaners walked, they began to realize that the cave they were in was becoming hotter and hotter by the second.

Slowly panic began to see in, as the ceiling, the ground and the walls around them began to shake, it was a volcanic eruption and they were right in the center of it all.

The cleaners ran, some used the teleporting crystals to get to the nearest town, taking one or two people with them, others chose to simply run as fast as they could, leaving those slower than themselves behind.

Unfortunately, such a large gathering of people all heading towards one exit made it difficult to move, when one reached a certain point and everyone became unable to move when they finally reached the exit.

So as the ground continued to shake Kirito saw his vision become dark, as rocks, dirt and whatever else caves were made of fell into of him.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Quick send the alert!"

"Do we have any casualties!"

Kirito woke up to the various voices of the cleaner and the scouts if the nearby kingdom, thankfully the cleaners were players, so their bodies were considerably stronger than the bodies of regular humans.

So something like having a cave fall on top of you, was only dangerous if you ran out of air.

Still, he didn't have time to think about his situation and so he began to dig himself up, all around him, he could feel hands and feet moving, the rest of the cleaners were trying to pull themselves out.

Finally the sensation of cold air touched Doritos hand, alerting him that he had finally reached the surface, how he and the rest of the cleaners must have looked, as they pulled themselves out of the ground, to any onlookers Kirito didn't know or care.

No, the only thing Kirito was worried about, was getting some fresh air.

Finally reaching the surface, kirito gasped as his lungs took in his first breath, the first thing Kirito noticed was just now hot the surface felt.

Not the air or the wind, just the overall climate, also slowly or perhaps it was instantly, all of the screaming from both the players and the knights, had come to a complete stop and it was only when he bothered to look back at the cave that nearly killed them all, that kirito realized why everyone seemed to go quiet.

There towering over them all was a massive white dragon, the likes of which shouldn't be possible, its body glowed as the fire inside it seemed to make the slight openings on its sales glow bright red, ashes cover it from head to toe.

Yet for all its display of power, the dragon didn't register as an enemy and it was only after a minute that Kirito realized why.

"It's during of old age" Kirito said as he looked at the massive creature, whose head just kept looking at the sky.

Then like if by coincidence, or perhaps being called by the awakening dragon, the sky suddenly ignited with the color of a bright red comment moving in the sky. The dragon for its part, simply lowered itself back down.

Just doing this much movement drained its stamina, the onese power creature was brought low, not by beast, sword, or mage, but by simply old age.

The only reason it even moved, must have been because someone must have done something to disturb the creature.

"There's no point in us killing it, its already dead." Said Lancelot as he walked up to Kirito, who himself was still on the ground covered in dirt.

"When it dies, as per our agreement, do to the fact that the left leg-wing-tail-horn-part of its mouth and body, will belong to us."

"Of course everything on the right side will belong to the Army, so what's left will be for you cleaners." Lancelot said to kirito, however the way he spoke, led kirito to believe that he wouldn't accept any other kind of offer.

"Talk to the team leaders" kkritk answers Lancelot, before he finally stood back on his two feet.

(Character change Arthur/Arthuria Pendragon)

For the first time in years, she found herself not able to understand how exactly she has ended up in this situation.

Currently, she was fighting a small group of want to be knights, altho they left a lot to be expected, they either had had more than their fare share of food, ate too little or simply lacked discipline.

Their armors were a mismatch of things, she was certain that was up from here and there. She had been performing one of her usual walks around the city, the kind one does, when needing a change of scenery.

Granted it was still the ideal city, but the people would make slight changes and she found herself enjoying herself as she tried to figure out what those changes were.

Her guard was always nearby, they were only around so that no one wondered why a woman hadn't been charged for breaking several peoples bones, if something were to happen.

It was then that she found this group of fools and as they fought one another, she found herself picking up one of the sticks they were using.

Arturia was dressed as a peasant woman and no one questions her about it, people weren't idiots, but really who would believe the queen would be walking around like this, they must have thought she was just someone that looked like her.

"Can you fight!" One of the men asked, when he saw her with the sword/stick.

Arturia only answered assuming a basic sword stance.

Slowly she found herself smiling, as she easily dodged the men's attacks, at first it had been one by one, now they all attacked as a group.

She found herself digging deeper and deeper into her dragons core, the source of all her power. Left-right-above-below, she dodged every attack with a calmness that few could ever manage and yet she found that a strange sound was being edited from her.

Slowly Arturia found, that's she was laughing, she could actually feel the wind of their attacks now, so she decided to put them down, a struck on the rear end of one of the men, another on the head of the other and another, felt her give him a slight tap on the forehead.

The last if them simply gave up.

"You win" said a man as another one walked up to her and handed her a small sheet of paper, the paper had several different kinds of food displayed on it.

"We were fighting for who got to choose where we eat, as the winner its tour choice. Don't worry, well pay for it." The spiky hair man said to her and so Arturia pointed at something, she hadn't eaten in a long time, cake


	29. Chapter 29

**(Kirito)**

He was busy looking thru the account book, Asuna had spent more than he previously thought possible, unfortunately, things like seeds, fertilizer and basic human necessities were expensive, especially when they were bought all at once.

The pegacorns attack had really done a number in the surrounding area and it was only because the scouts had sent out the warnings, that he-Asuna and Yui, alongside the few people that now lived in the area, could escape.

The people of Aincrad were the important ones, if the lands were still there when it could be resettled, fields could be formed and seeds could be planted, as for any domesticated farm animal, they could either be bought or caught.

Lumber alone was a headache, whatever those horned horses with wings were planning must have been pretty strange, for a number of houses uncovered showed signs of being remodeled.

The doors were wider and the window lower then they should have been, like if the houses were made for something as small as a dwarf, or a dog, someone even suggested that, those things were making the villages ready for their own kind to live in.

But that was reticular, why would horses need houses for they were animals, maybe magical animals but animals none the less.

So a lot of remodeling of the remaining buildings had to be done.

He switched to a message sent to him, by his old friend Klein, apparently, the scouts had yet to find the door leading to the floor bosses area, so the scouts couldn't advance any further, any attempt they made, were met with an overwhelming response by the monsters on that floor.

So from time to time, his team would switch with one of the other team's just to go look, but for now they decided not to worry about it and enjoy their time in one of the cities in that floor, apparently they had met a girl that was fun to be around, do to her overly angry attitude, but that attitude was just an act, considering she still did half the things the Fuurinkazan guild did to have fun.

They had also met an elder woman, that apparently had breast the size of a man head, that could fight them all and win, despite the guild attacking her with everything they had.

Both women were fun to be around despite just being a renegade knight and a simple village girl, a twist even kirito didn't see coming.

The twist wasn't that none of the men had any intention of having any sexual or romantic affairs with the women, after all scouts knew that they were entering the jaws of death, by going so far ahead of everyone else.

No, the twist was that the Fuurinkazan was one of the strongest guilds around, by no means were their numbers anything to look at, but they had not stopped fighting in the frontlines, where many players had stopped growing or slowed down, they along with the rest of the scouts just kept going up and they had found two people, that could keep up with them.

The sound of metal moving alerted him that break time was over, he turned to look at his team and smiled, before they were enemies, now they were somewhat acquaintances, not friends but certainly not enemies.

Some were ex-members of the Murder Guild Laughing Coffin, but when people started to bleed and actually have to do some basic bodily functions, they stopped acting like idiots and accepted the fact that this was all real.

Most couldn't be accepted in towns, cities or villages, because of everything they had done before, so most of them just became scouts or cleaners, it was a hard life but not a bad one and by doing this, the doors to all of those villages-towns and cities are suddenly open to them.

Kirito stood up and stretched his hands to the sky, he heard his bones pop, immediately after, it was time to get back to work.

 **(Character change Eddard/ Ned Stark** )

He stood in a dark room there was no sound-mell or any way of knowing where he was going, suddenly the world around him changed and he found himself standing buddies himself and the king's guards as they made camp for the night.

He slowly realized that he was watching the events of the past, when he was just coming to kings landing.

Suddenly the loud grow of the strange creature made itself known and he found himself walking towards it.

For the first time in years, he felt the feelings of regret-shame and anger, but overall fear.

What stood before him hidden by the darkness of the night, was a massive red dragon, the creature was injured, in such a way that Ned knew that it would not survive.

It's chest had been broken, like if a large hammer had struck it, with so much power that its shield-like sales were broken beyond repair.

It was a dying beast, the grow of a wulf made him turn and Ned found himself looking at a young man with short black hair and the way he looked reminded him of his second youngest son, back home.

He felt his heart begin to beat in such a way that it made his combat instincts kick in and it was only because of those instincts that he dodged an incoming attack, a man holding a black sword and one that seemed to have a purple like color.

Yet who the man was Ned Stark did not know, the man and his two swords vanished before being replaced by a creature that had nobody but wielded a large scythe, before it stood a pale man dressed in white, while six glowing eyes that seemed to grow closer looked in their direction.

Yet it was what caught Ned eye that filled him with fear, the throne, the mark that held the seven kingdoms together... Was empty, no one sat upon it and there was chaos.

Ned stark awoke from his and he found himself staring at peace simply peace of animal skin, it was an invitation for a representative or a group of representatives from the strangers, to be allowed to enter Kings Landing and begin negotiations with the main kingdom itself.


	30. Chapter 30

Ned Stark looked at the parchment but didn't bother picking it up, he was trying to calm his mind, to settle down his uncontrolled emotions, yet he found himself remembering or perhaps imagining the image of his nephew John Snow and his wulf Ghost.

The image of his nephew staring straight at the red dragon, filled him with worry, for he didn't recall ever seeing the man within his dream and yet he was present in his memory.

Perhaps this was his curse, his punishment, for doing what he had done.

Hus children wolves were a special free Dire wolves, he had found them just after they had been born, their mother had been killed by a deer's antler, the prey had been able to fight back. Normally this wouldn't have been out of the ordinary, except, it was the number of cubs present that now seemed incredibly odd.

There was a wulf pup, for every one of his children, including one that had separated itself from the litter, that one went to his nephew, altho people only knew the young man as his bastard son.

Perhaps the gods had sent them to his family and now that he had killed one, the Gods anger was directed towards him.

He couldn't help but look back into the fleeting memory of his dream and the image of the man wielding the twin swords, that image alone sent chills down his spine, as he remembered the events that occurred so many years ago.

He tried to forget but every attempt made the memory of his dream become even more clear, yet when he concentrated in those memories they seemed to grow ever more distant, like if he was only meant to know the time called for it.

Ned reached for the document and the moment his hand made contact with it, he found himself shaking and quickly being covered in a cold sweat.

He could feel the air entering his lungs and the world turned dark once again, there within the darkness stood that same young man, however, this time there was no wolf at his side. He was about to call out to the young man, when the image of a sword being drawn filled his vision, the vision quickly changed and it was quickly replaced by the image of ships setting sail.

The temperature quickly dropped and Ned found himself standing in the lands of the north once again, only that there was fire everywhere, yet even the flames could not melt the ice, all of a sudden Ned found himself facing at a golden lion, that stood only inches from his face, behind it stood the shadows of an unknown army, who's armored bodies did not match.

Again the young man stood before him and theg both looked at each other, yet neither of them said a word.

Ned Stark found himself gasping for air, as the door to his office suddenly opened, it was in of the guards of the castle, apparently, he had a visitor, one that claimed to have urgent news. Who could, who would dare to call out to him like this, Ned didn't know, what he did know, was that if this really wasn't important, then both messengers would die, for wasting his time.

He followed the guard to a small inn, what made him stop when reaching the entrance was the fact that it was one of the many brothels within Kings Landing.

"This better be really important" Ned thought to himself, yet the moment he stepped foot inside the brothel he found his wife waiting for him, right on the other side of the door.

He took his wife and held her, her worried expression told him that this was of true importance, after all he had left her behind, in the lands of the north.

He heard as she spoke about their son falling from one of the towers, the man that tried to kill him in his room and how the boy's pet wild killed the would-be assassin.

But overall he felt himself fill with rage and fear, for the knife used by the attacker was one owned by one of the Lannisters, the malformed dwarf of the Lannister family.

Seeing his worried expression, his wife demanded/asked to know what was going on.

So he told her about the events that had been going on, the encounter with the strange creature that fateful night, how he killed his eldest daughter wolf and how both girls were now at odds with each other.

He also told her about the strange mountain/island that had shown up and how the Tywin Lannister, had done everything within his power to stay away from the royal court, so he could deal with the strangers personally.

That fact alone, was all that was needed to know that the old man didn't have anything to do, with what had happened to his son, yet there was always the possibility that it had been planned before the arrival of the strange island/mountain.

Ned ordered his wife to return to the north and veggie setting up defenses should an attack come, he did this as the memories of what he had dreamt earlier returned to him, secretly Ned Stark hoped that what he had seen, weren't visions of things to come.

He returned to the castle and it was only after looking at the parchment that he handed it over to a messenger, no doubt the elder Lannister would be laying his eyes on it, but it didn't matter, this was a personal invitation from the king himself.


	31. Chapter 31

**(Arthur/ Arturia** )

The sound of metal hitting flesh echoed through the throne room, as the blond woman wearing red armor fought against Klein.

The crowd watched the two of them as the quickly parted from one another, hoping to gain some distance, the two of them kept their eyes locked on each other. Klein smiled faintly, while his opponents only grinned, like a cat, that knew it would get its rat.

Slowly the crowd of cheering onlookers drew quiet, as if knowing that any sound made by them could affect the outcome of the fight.

Arturia, had to admit she was enjoying the show, even if she had to watch it from her throne room. Just who was the woman, that seemed to come and go from Mordred's home, she certainly wasn't a servant, that was for sure considering how she and Klein spoke to each other and the fact that she was putting up, such a good show, made Arturia wonder if Mordred had taken up a student.

The girl certainly had,the mans fighting style, but when Mordred fought like a calm fire that only grew stronger as time passed, the girl fought like if she was a raging infernal that had been suppressed for too long and was now doing what it was meant to do.

The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed, as the cheers of the crowd only grew, as more and more people were gathering to see the ongoing fight.

The coliseum was ideally filled with knights or novices training, none of them remained now, they had all wisely gotten out of the way as the lunatics fought.

"Say it!" Klein screamed at the woman as he forced her back, using his larger body weight and strength, while using his sword to keep the woman's own held in place.

The woman, however, only let out a roar before punching the man in the stomach and forcing him back.

The next few seconds became a blur, as the two charged at each other and both their hands and swords vanished from sight, the only sign of either things existing, was the sound of metal that could be heard now and then.

Then it was over Klein fell on top of the woman completely exhausted, he was gasping for air, the woman, however, didn't move.

"Say it" he repeated, but he struggled to say every word.

"Alright, alright already. I'm a girl" the woman said, before losing up her hand and taping on Kleins back.

He immediately rolled over, Arturia smiled, the two of them had a lot to learn, but were fairly decent fighters.

She turned to look at the man that sat on the floor beside her, his triangle shaped hat, singled as he turned to look at her.

"Well that was entertaining don't you think?" She asked her jester, the man was a fool, it was his job to keep her entertained, but the man was no idiot and Arturia often found herself listening to his advice.

"..."

Arturia could see the troubled expression on the man's face, but for whatever reason he refused to tell her what he had noticed.

"It's a crime to lie to your king" Arturia told the man with a cold voice "And it's an equally punishable crime to keep secrets from him" that last line seemed to make the man act.

"My king, I am a fool- an idiotic- an invincible..." He stopped as if trying to pick his words wisely.

"Let's look at the facts" he said as casted an illusion to show Arturia what he meant with pictures.

"When my king leaves the castle, she wears a mans set of armor, that hides her form from head to toe. A cart that holds no one, is taken, for people to believe that the queen goes with him, for what safer place, could there be, other than at the king's side." He said as the image of Arturias armor was displayed before her.

"Yet when my king, is in her kingdom, she wears a dress and acts as queen or a peasant depending if she wants to get some air or not"

"Lord Mordred wears an armor that his him from head to toe, but no one ever sees him without it, yet now in times of peace a woman leaves his mansion and is able to fight using his method" be said as the armored form of Mordred stood besides Arturia's own armored form, while the woman's stood besides Arturias own unarmored form.

As Arturia looked at the illusion before her, she couldn't believe her eyes, it made perfect sense, but why hadn't Mordred told her, after all her own situation wasn't any different, granted she was king and Mordred a Lord, but it was only the scale of things that was different.

But as Arturia looked at the illusion she couldn't help but detect a hint of familiarity, with the blond woman's face, that she now knew was Mordred. It was like looking at a wilder, younger version of her self and for a moment Artura remembered a mistake she had done.

She had wanted an inheritor, but she couldn't get pregnant herself, so she had her mistrusted magician turn her into a man, just so she could impregnate a woman. The catch was she couldn't remember who it was, but that's the problem with magic, its a real headache, when it wants to be.

Yet it was only now that she looks at the results of her mistake and it took a fool to show it to her.

"You're dismissed for the day" Arturia told her jester, the man quickly ran out the door, as if knowing he had stumbled onto something he shouldn't have. Any other king would have the man executed for what he knew, but it was for reasons like these that Arturia, kept him around.

She walked up to her throne and sat down, she needed to think about what she needed to do about her little mistake. Her inheritor had to be a man, a woman couldn't do the job, at least not alone.

She knew this because of her personal experience, not everyone gets to have loyal subjects like the ones at her side and even then, in the years past, some had tried to assassinate her.

A man could do it for two reasons one his queen could keep an eye on things with her own spies and loyal followers, two the king could fight the wars that would undoubtedly occur, while his queen helped keep relations with the nearby kingdoms.

If Mordred was, in fact, the result of her actions, then she would have to prove she deserved the throne.


	32. Chapter 32

**(Kirito)**

The smell of hot potatoes drifted into the air and Kirito watched as the hot steam nearly blinded him to its contents. He had come home to help with the relocation of the villagers, normally as let regulation, he would still be with the rest of his team in electing the borders, but apparently being a Lord, had some perks.

In his case, however, it was both a curse and a blessing, a curse because his team was one man short and a blessing because he could both be with his family and remind himself, why exactly they were fighting for.

The villagers/ refugees, or perhaps they were called settlers now, where all gathered together cooking their own meals, this caused the feeling of some sort of union to settle in, the various families had their children playing near them, either by kicking around balls made of animal skins, playing tag or simply helping the elders carry firewood.

Kirito had to admit that it would be a lot easier to just teleport everyone back home, but the truth was that in case of an emergency, the people themselves would need to know their way back to the city, should something happen to the escape route and something stopped them from teleporting away.

The people looked at him with eyes filled with worry, however, Kirito had to admit that was mostly his fault, both Asuna and Yui had interacted with the villagers from time to time and built some sort of working relationship with them.

Apparently, she had been speaking to them and learning about the things they needed just to live, like what they normally used daily and what was commonly in demand when they were working.

An unfortunate result of that, was that a rummer had begun to spread within the people, both the villagers and the people within the city. Apparently, the story told by them was this, Asuna was the light of day and anyone that saw her, couldn't help but acknowledge both her beauty and her grace both in battle and in life.

She moved like the wind and her white sword shined with the light of stars, a caring mother and laydy to all. She was loved by her people and even went as far as to walk within them.

He, on the other hand, was seen as a distant man, cold and uncaring who lived for the thrill of battle. His black clothes and armor resembled the blackness of his heart and his swords were said to never go a day that they weren't covered in blood.

Apparently, he only returned home when his lustful urges overcame him and even then he was always distant from his people. No one knew anything about him or ever saw him, unless he was in battle, carrying his wife to the bedroom or taking his caught out on walks.

"Just how did people even start telling these stories to each other?" Kiriro thought to himself,as Asuna placed a bow filled with potato soup in his hands, the now was hot, but not too much, so the heat wasn't unbearable.

Yui ran up to them and immediately sat down on the grass and Asuna handed her her own now, before she to sat down.

Acalm mood began to set in between them, even though they were just eating, the only sounds around them, were the people talking amongst themselves, the animals that are the grass near them and the sound of birds flying nearby.

Kirito couldn't help but smile as he ate, he hoped these days never ended.

 **(Ned Sark)**

The Small Council had been gathered, each man present was one if not the most important person within the seven kingdoms, second only to the king and queen. In times past they themselves would have been called kings or by the very least lords, lords, who held such power that they themselves could have overthrown kings and queens.

Now they were nothing more than high-class servants, servants who's words could end the lives of thousands of people. A wrong word spoken, could cause an entire town to be so heavenly taxed, that the people would prefer slavery over living that way.

A dot misplaced in a document could have an entire regions food to be taken away from them and that regions people left to starve.

All of them had eyes that no one ever saw and ears that heard the whisper those beneath them spoke and the yet despite all of this the king could control them.

Each man held an exhausted expression, the kings festival was taking a tow on them, the cost of all of the wine-food-whores and guards were making Coin of the King, the man responsible, for managing the funds of the kingdom frustrated considering just how much he was having to pay.

The kings hand, the man that managed the security of the kingdom himself was equally as troubled, in one night alone, the guards had stopped five rapes, ten robberies, a woman's head was found floating in the river, her body was still missing and now he had to worry about the strangers when they arrived.

The rest of them were in no better condition, the master of whispers, whose job was to find any threat to the kingdom and by extension, the king, had heard troubling reports, from the lands of the east a growing danger was starting to move, the people from the north had begun to act as if they were getting ready for war.

To any onlooker, they would have just looked like if they were getting their supplies ready for the harsh winters that occurred in their part of the world, but to those that knew how the north moved when getting ready for any major conflict, knew something was wrong.

Swords were being sharpened and men who could fight were being separated from the rest, like if they were waiting for someone to say the word and for them to begin their attack.

Further up, in the lands where few dare to walk, there are whispers amongst those whose job is to keep the savages and unholy creatures that feel beyond the realm of men, that strange creatures have been sighted and the savages beyond the wall, are moving as if fleeing from something.

Yet these men and the few that have yet word their troubles, could all see the writing on the walls and for the first time in years they all agreed on one thing and thing only, war was coming, but against who no one truly knew.

Was it the north that armed themselves without reason, was it the growing threat of a discarded princes, from a time long passed, from the east, those beyond the realm of men, or perhaps it was the strangers.

None of them could say.


	33. Chapter 33

One by one each man exited the room, their discussion was over, the fact that none of them had even spoken a word didn't matter, for they had passed to one another each piece written down information, of course, they kept the most important things to themselves, not because they affected anyone else, but rather for the fact that any small portion of those documents could easily put the well being of the kingdom in jeopardy.

Truthfully everyone present knew where to get those documents and had copies of them, written by the very men themselves, this was so that if any of the died mysteriously, the rest could put together what had happened.

Soon only Ned himself remained, he hadn't left the room not because of any particular reason, he simply had nothing better to do, ever since arriving at Kings Landing, his days had consisted of desk work, seeing the glimpses of spies that the various councilmen had, as he walked passed them, or listening to his old friends loud boasting.

Robert Baratheon, was a plump man, but he didn't use to be, before he was fit and his strongly built body was a testament to it, however, the life of a king had taken its time on him and so he threw himself towards his worldly desires.

Soon wine-whores-festivals and whatever whims he wanted, were his only release from the chains of leading the seven kingdoms.

It was incomes like these, that Ned wondered if he had taken the throne for himself that fateful day, would he have ended up the same as his old friend. Where he only had one kingdom to worry about, Robert Baratheon had seven, granted they both had Lords, Knights and so on, but only one of them had to worry about, the dangers that would come from afar.

Ned listened to the sounds of the festival and he felt himself wondering how it must feel to be able to enjoy such simple things, He imagined himself, walking amongst the people, without fearing assassins sent after him, or an enraged mob of villagers attacking him and his family for any wrongdoings that may have befallen them, because of an order he gave.

The sounds of strings, bells and the singing of the people were faint and Ned had to strain himself, just to listen to a single note. The north didn't have anything like this, the closest thing they had, was when the various houses, gathered to within his northern home Winterfell, to pass the long winters, they would drink, sing and laugh with each other.

Daughters would get pregnant and bastards would be put within their mother's bellies, needless to say, no one ever spoke against, some random man forcing himself on a lady, for during those times no one knew if they would be frozen corpses the next day.

The same went for a little persons daughter being taken by a lord, there were no titles during this time and anyone that protected against this, would soon end up dead, killed by everyone else. This was the truth about the north, beyond things of honor, loyalty and so on, the survival of one's family name took priority over all.

Soon the sound of wooden stick colliding with one another slowly took over the sounds of the festival until it was the only thing that could be heard, Ned turned his head to see who was making such noise and saw his youngest daughter, learning how to use a sword.

He smiled at this, she had his sisters character and secretly Ned hoped that she wouldn't follow his dead sister's path, so many had lost their lives because of it.

His mind shifted to his eldest daughter and how she was now to be wed to the kings oldest son, the boy had the Lannisters appearance, meaning that he had their hair, eye color and skin tone, but one only had to spend a minute speaking to him and they would see his fathers attitude everywhere, from the way he walked to the way he looked at random women.

The boy was a Baratheon, if not in looks, then in nature.

The sounds of wooden swords colliding was growing more and more distant and soon it would be replaced by the sounds of the festival once more.

Then like a light of day the king's daughter walked in.

"Lord Stark" Myrcella said to him as her eyes looked around the room.

Ned stood up to greet her only for the girl to lift up her right hand, informing him that such an act wasn't needed.

"My topologies for interrupting your rest, but have you seen my father?" She asked, the girls bright smile carried a warmth that didn't exist within the castle and for a moment Ned wondered, if this was unit to the girl.

"The king is out, with his guard enjoying the festival." Ned answered the girl, however, the girls smile slightly faltered before she unrolled a something in front of him, her bright smile returned just strongly as it was before.

"Grandfathers scribes drew this for me, it's a drawing of one of the animals, that one of the girls kept as a pet, it can become bigger when it want to. I also have a drawing of the girl herself." Myrcella said to him, as she happily placed the drawings in front of Ned and Ned felt his blood run cold.

The drawings were of a young brown haired girl, wearing a strange armor, who's sigil Ned didn't recognize, but what was frightening, was the creature at her side... a living dragon.

"I bet father and uncle Tyrion will like them too" Myrcella said, completely ignorant of the threatshe had just shown Ned

Yet as Ned looked behind the girl, he could see her guard lowering their heads to him, confirming that what she was showing to him was I deed true and not a product of a young woman's imagination.


	34. Chapter 34

"Who else knows about this?" Ned asked Myrcella and the girl looked at him with a happy expression

"Everyone that went with grandfather and I" she immediately answered before taking back the drawings and rolling them up again

There was no reason for either of them to be in the same room anymore, so Myrcell simply said her goodies to him and walked away, her guards, however, took a slower step then they normally would have taken and Ned realized that had he been anyone else, they would have killed him.

Once again the sounds of the festival began to return, but they seemed to have grown even more distant than before and so Ned found himself working even harder to hear a single note.

( **Klein** )

The smell of saltwater lingered as he and his team walked deeper and deeper into the cave, they were careful not to set off any traps, then slowly they all stopped walking, right in front of them was a massive black stone door.

None of them dared to so much as touch it, for there was a chance that if they did then they wouldn't be able to escape, whether that reason was due to some monsters protecting the area suddenly becoming aware of their presence and so act accordingly- a bunch of traps suddenly activating or the main boss behind the door forcing them to stay, didn't matter, the results would be the same, they would all end up dead.

"I've already sent out the location and the alert. Everyone should be here in three days" Dale said to them, before pausing and activating a teleportation crystal, the last thing any of them would see, would be the walls around them begin to move.

The guild of Fuurinkazan, soon found themselves at the entrance of the cave they had just been in, they stood there silently waiting, normally some kind of creature would show up and attack after they had left the are, granted that creature was ideally several creatures but who cared about the details.

None of them said anything, there was no need to, three days, in three days they would fight the floor boss beat it and move on, the wall of overly aggressive monsters that kept people from going up, would be gone and yet for the first time, none of them wanted to leave.

They had met some good people on this floor, hell they had even made some friends, but if there was a chance for them to go back home, they had to see if that chance was real or not, so they had to move on and that meant it was time to stay away from those people, they had met.

They each marked their location on their maps before heading back towards the city, they would resupply everything from potions, weapons, food and water.

As each man walked they briefly stopped as they felt a small spark of electricity flow thru them, however, it was so small that not even the animals around them even care to acknowledge it had happened at all, so the guild simply moved on.

( **Arthur/Arturia** )

Arturia swung her sword, carefully remembering the battles of the past, remembering every detail, every impact and even the blood that flowed onto her hands. She moved faster than any mortal man, but it wasn't anywhere near her true speed.

In times like these, even her persona guards would leave her alone, less their presence hinder her training.

Then suddenly a small pulse echoed through the realm, her sword instantly reacted to it, forcing the pulses energies away and yet Arturia found herself standing upon a frozen land starting into the distance. There was nothing in this land only a massive wall made of ice that was far into the distance, in front of her was a large tree, that had a face carved into its bark.

To her left stood a boy with short black hair, no it was more like if it was the spirit of a boy that stood at her left. She still held her sword and Arturia beloved that it was only because of its influence that she was even herself at the moment.

The bark of the tree was white, almost as if was made of white paper and from its mouth, eyes and nose, it bled red blood. Arturia was certain it was blood, the smell of iron and milk was present, but what was disturbing of all, was the sensation Arturia felt, it was like if something was calling to her, to thrust her sword into the tree and unleash its power into it.

Arturia desired the urge to do so and she soon found herself standing before an army, but not an army of living, but if the endless dead, yet as she watched the cursed walk, a man walked up to her with spear in hand.

He was made into ice and ice was his armor, his eyes were blue, but a shade that made them look as if they had been made of marble. The man lifted his spear and even if he had never uttered a word, Arturia felt the need to unleash Excaliburs power upon the spear.

Again she resisted and Arturia wanted to scream, upon a hill of swords she stood, holding Mordreds corps be used them, her knights and her most trusted friends laid dead and the state around them doubled with blood, as if something that was once there had sunk beneath the sea.

Arturia suddenly realized that she was back in her throne room gasping for air.

[ **Sistem restoration process complete, beginning analysis...time remaining before Aincrad can once again fly...procesing** ]

(Character change Asuna)

They had finally returned to their small cottage and it really did feel like home Asuna, prepared herself to organize the people and tell them what to do, only to realize that the men were already doing it and had begun to prepare everything for the work ahead.

Behind her Yui, looked at all the people gathered her bright smile and big black eyes made her seem almost like an angel, unbeknownst to Asuna, however, Yui's help screen had suddenly alerted her that a point had been reached and she would soon have to choose, between leaving Aincrad within the sea or return it to the sky.

Asuna turned to look at a message sent to her from the guild, but it had the stamps of every guild leader, making the thing urgent, but it also had the option of yes and no on it, so she was free to choose whether she participated or not.

An invitation had arrived from the main kingdom, within the mainland and the guilds would send their representatives, unfortunately, the scouts had just found the floor bosses area and so both the scouts and the cleaners would soon be completely occupied with either the defense of the border or killing the monster in that room.

Apparently the only reason she was even given an option at all, was simply because of her daughter and the fact that Kirito, couldn't watch over her, since he would be sent back to the cleaners to sleep guard.

Asuna couldn't believe what she was seeing, they had just returned home and they were already being told to leave, so I thought thinking she pressed No, I'm the help screen and decided to spend what little time she had with her family together, as best as possible.


	35. Chapter 35

**(Character change Tywin)**

Tywin Lannister listened, he listened to the silence, there was nothing to disturb it, from time to time the steps of the servants or his knights walking could be heard or one person speaking to another, but other than that there was nothing.

The world was quiet...the world was quiet.

He had read the letter sent from Kings Landing to the strangers, he did so because, the letter hadn't been sealed at all, it was just a folded up letter, no wax to keep it closed and no strings for it to be secure.

He hadn't bothered to add a letter of his own, for the simplest reason that everyone knew that in order to travel within a lord's lands, a person needs the permission of that lord.

Tywin held the letters that had gone between himself and the strangers, who were asking for permission to travel thru his lands, normally he wouldn't have bothered to answer as he had, but there were still so many unknowns.

So he sent a letter asking to know how many people would be passing thru, for no other reason than to stop his own men from fulfilling their duties and attacking them, thinking that they were preventing an early invasion force.

The stranger's answer, was both pathetically small and at the same time worry some, only a few people would be going to Kings Landing, of course, they would all be knights, no servants would be accompanying them.

This answer alone confirmed two theories that Tywin had when he had seen the gathering group of children and what his granddaughter had to him. The strangers were thought to multitask, so there was no doubt that they would be trained beyond the common things thought to any knight or lord.

Tywin knew just, by the way, the small town or perhaps it was a city, that he has visited, that writing was a common thing to the people there and from what his master was doing, innovation was something the people there desired.

Meaning that the strangers would only become stronger as time passed and yet he could see no immediate threat from them.

Their numbers were small and if what his men, the servants and his granddaughter had told him was true, the assortment of creatures present within the city, suggested a level of danger that the people there lived in, was exceptionally high.

But there is a difference between a little threat and none at all, the strangers wanted nothing to do with the outside world, their actions alone spoke of this and they did what they had to do to stay away.

Unfortunately, that would never happen.

No immediate threat, didn't mean no threat at all, their school alone could train-teach and form binds that only occluded between houses over various years within a short period of time and the way that the knights walked, all spoke of combat experience, meaning that if the matter was needed they could and would put up one hell of a fight.

Still as things stood, Tywin gave his permission, but only after asking if they would be carrying anything extra, like wagons-horsed or weapons. He was trapped between bringing the kings anger upon him or simply annoying the strangers, to the point that they become frustrated and decide to simply head to Kings Landing by Ship.

The fate of his lands-his people, the seven kingdoms all depended on the meeting ahead and now something like this happens.

Tywin turned to look at the masked man who was so rounded by his personal guard, at the masked man's feet laid the body of a young woman. The man made a motion of himself, pulling at his face and one of Tywins personal guards looked to Tywin, for confirmation.

Tywin simply looked at the man, there was no need for any action or words, the man had known him for years and so knew what Tywin said with one look.

The knight reached out and pulled the woman's face, only for it to come off and the face of a small boy be left behind, the knight pulled again and the face of a man, he pulled again and the black face of a woman from the south.

"Enough" Tywin ordered the man, he had seen enough, the assassins of Esos the Faceless men were walking around his lands, but why was the question.

"There are more kingdoms within the island. No one wants a war, we keep our selves in check, you keep yourselves, as well" the masked man said to Tywin.

"That's not for me to decide" Tywin answered the man and in a puff of smoke the man vanished.

"But it is, you see you've managed to do something not even the kingdoms of Aincrad could. You've managed to get the trust of the Adventurers" the man appeared behind Tywin, yet Tyein did not show any fear, if he even had any.

"To think that an ordinary man, without power or skills in magic, would be able to go as far as to write letters to those that kill giants-dragons- armies, for fun. Beings that have ended entire kingdoms, would ask for something as ridiculous as permission" the man spoke as a knight tried to pierce him with a spear, only for him to turn to smoke once again.

"So I ask you once gain, keep your dogs in check, for the kingdoms of Aincrad know that if you are attacked, they will answer." The man spoke.

Tywin now understood what was happening, this was interrogation, whatever/whoever hose kingdoms were, they wanted to know what Tywin was planning or how had he made contact with the strangers.

"I hold no such power" Tywin answered.

The man simply moved his hand and placed it on his chin "Perhaps, perhaps not, but one wonders how did your people access their libraries and why are your slaves happily building a wall alongside their servants" he stopped before vanishing again.

"Take it as a peace offering, she was a long at you, you were in luck that I was sent to speak to you." The man's voice seemed to come from every direction, but his body was nowhere to be seen.

Again Tywin stood in silence, no one present dared to speak or make a move.


	36. Chapter 36

**They say that when times change, it's a great thing, for none can miss the vents that occur. Truth be told only a few people are even so much as capable of noticing the events at all, for it is not one or several big events, but a gathering if multiple small things, happening around something big.**

(Mordred)

The sound of footsteps could be heard for miles, from every directing they marched only stopping when they reached their destination, soon the smells of the various meals began to spread through the forest and as one would expect, the creatures of the forest desired the Mel for themselves.

Unfortunately for them, the Adventurers would kill them, long before any creature could so much as eat anything, already the forest floor was stained with blood and it was only due to the fact, that there were so many corpses laying about, that any creature managed to escape at all.

A clear line had been formed, take the dead and leave was the message sent to all, altho no one ever spoke it.

Mordred watched from afar, using her dragons core to strengthen her vision, besides her Lancelot stood, quietly observing.

"So it's true" Lancelot said.

"What?" Mordred asked, however, her question was more of a demand than a question.

"You've bonded and the one you have bonded to, is someone impossible for you to be with. I swear, you're just like your father." Lancelot said before jumping back, in order to dodge Mordred's fist.

Mordred looked at Lancelot, but for some reason, her instincts didn't act like they should have, instead, her body did react but her heart was accelerated unesesarely. Mordred couldn't help but shake, it was a mixture of fear and embarrassment.

"How? How did you know?" Mordred asked Lancelot

"You may always have your helmet on, but you still turn your head in order to look at the king, like a lost child, calling to its mother." Lancelot answered Mordred, an uncomfortable silence began to set in.

"As for your second question, your smell. You smell so strongly of female hormones, that even the nearby animals are starting to pick up on them. Like it or not, but it's only because of your power and your power alone, that you haven't been attacked" Lancelot answered Mordred.

Mordred stood motionless digesting Lancelot's words, her white armor covered her from head to toe and her helmet couldn't be removed by anyone else but her, all of this convinced made many think of her as if she was just another man.

Yet if what the man in front of her said was true, any attempt to keep up her charade was meaningless, her nature had begun to work against her.

So slowly Mordred reached for her helmet and took it off, for the first time allowing herself to be seen by anyone, while she was still wearing her white armor.

Lancelot stood silently taking in the sight before him, before smiling. "You look like a younger wielder version of your father" he said before exhaling.

"Can you at least tell me how you bonded with him?" Lancelot asked Mordred, there was no point in hiding anything so Mordred told Lancelot everything.

She told him about them drinking and eating together, the children competitions that they would have and the fights that would break out between them and she also told him about her red armor, the one that showed to everyone that she was indeed a woman.

Lancelot simply stared at Mordred before pulling her towards him and giving her a right hug, their armors letting off a slight sound of metal hitting metal.

Mordred quickly pushed Lancelot away and she was about to draw her sword, when she noticed the mans worried expression that somehow looked at her with pity.

"What!?" Mordred demanded.

Your smiling and laughing even now, while you have your hands on your swords handle, your smiling. Do you know that there is a chance that you will have to kill him, never once have you ever done any of those things with any of us, you have always stayed away and now that you open up to someone, its someone that will undoubtedly hurt you.

The sounds of twigs shaping made them turn and see more and more adventurers gathering, something big was about to happen and the king needed to know about it.

(Army)

It was like a timer had been set, no a timer had been set, the guilds were gathering their people and the teams were arming themselves, the only thing they were waiting for was one word, just one word from the scouts for them all to move.

The Army at one point was the line that kept the lower floors safe and did the most to pass every floor, now they had other problems, to deal with.

Ruling over people and keeping your lands both within and out of their borders was an issue, so many rats wanted in, not all of the Human. For the first time in years the army found itself on the losing side, hundreds of miniature had begun to move towards the lower floors, as if sensing their weakness.

So like the defenders they were, the guild fought this new threat, at first it went well, they were cutting down miniature by the dozens, but the enemies numbers alone were simply overwhelming.

So slowly they were being pushed back, soon they all found themselves concentrating on their weapons and a change began to occur, slowly their hammer-swords-spears-guns-arrows all began to glow, it was as if the weapons themselves, had been given new life.

The fighting went on, until every healing potion, every special crystal was completely used up and for the first time in years, the Army stood alone, in a field of corpses and blood the Army stood as one.

Unbeknownst to them a man dressed in black watched from afar, his skull-shaped mask hid his face from the world, he watched only for few seconds more, before vanishing in a puff of smoke.


	37. Chapter 37

It began with light of first sunrise, the adventurers had gathered all of their tools and weapons alike, potions and crystals were prepared in advance.

Mordred watched from afar, she watched as the adventurers went into the cave, slowly and it was only when she and Lancelot were certain that no one would see them that, they advanced.

With each step they took, the sounds of battle became louder, they walked until they reached the entrance of the cave and found themselves becoming speechless, as the sight before the was one, only those that had seen war could bear.

Orcs and goblins alike hung from the ceiling and walls of the cave, the cave floor was painted red, with the blood of the dead, neither of them truly cared, for none of the dead were human.

The walked deeper and deeper into the cave and found that they themselves were being followed by men dressed in black, spies and assassins, yet none of them dared to attack.

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the cave and once in a while the light of flames could be seen, finally, they stopped and Mordred felt her instincts take over, for the adventures were fighting men and women dressed in strange box-like armors.

Yet as Mordred watched, she found herself realizing that this was a hopeless battle, for the adventurers were not fighting mortal beings, no instead it was something far simpler.

They were fighting illusions, depending on the magician, the illusions could be cereal that everything about them could be mistaken for a real human, or be nothing more than black shades of color moving about.

People used this kind of spells to weaken those stronger than them and when they were exhausted, simply cut their throats.

The fight continued for what seemed like hours and slowly the illusions began to lose form, when the last one fell, never to reform, the cave walls began to move, revealing a massive door.

It was then that the men dressed in black moved and it was then that they died, right before they had even had a chance to attack. The dead had risen, if only for a moment and Mordred felt a familiarity with the magic that gifted the dead with life.

It had the feeling of something familiar, something only a child would recognize, her mother was watching from the shadows.

The cave floor broke revealing a sleeping red dragon, yet when it rose to fight those that feared to enter its home, Mordred, saw that it had it's she's broken, like if someone had taken a massive hammer and brought it down upon the beast.

It took less than minute, but the dragon fell, the adventurers drove a spear thru it heart, and using a war hammer, they drive it in deeper. Yet after the fight had ended the adventures realized they needed a bridge and so they nailed the red dragons mouth shut and hammered both its arms and legs to both ends of the cave, forcing it to be their bridge.

Yet as they reached the other side, the door did not open and so they took turns breaking the ancient stone doors down. When the final piece of the doors fell, a vast field was revealed on the other side and far into the distance was a massive wall.

(Arthur/ Arturia)

Arturia watched the images sent to her by Mordred, her guard, her most trusted knights and even Merlin himself felt it, the moment the doors were broken an ancient power had just been unleashed, one that stayed away, not because it was afraid.

No, not because it was afraid of her and her power, but rather it feared what stood within the cave, it feared the Adventurers.

 **For a thousand years the wall has stood and for a thousand years we stood as guards. We defended the realm from beast, magical beings and the savages of the west.**

 **Now something comes, no army can stand against them, no beast can devour them, the wall cannot stop them, magical being die before them.**

 **Each one is a legion, kill one and it will rise again, bun it and flames will not work again. We will guard the wall, we ill hold, but we cannot stop them, Emperor the Adventurers have finally come, we need reinforcements.**

 **The men speak of the dead rising behind them an army of the dead is rising and there are whispers, whispers from our scouts beyond the wall.**

 **They whisper that the savages we have encountered until now are but primitives, that there are kingdoms further to the west. Emperor arm the defenses and gather the guard, they are coming, I can hear the wall breaking.**

 **Emperor help us they are coming.**

Arturia heard the calls for help, someone on the other side, was calling for aid, she tightened her grip on her sword, the times of peace would soon come to an end.

(Tywin Lannister)

The sound of water splashing could be heard as horses exited the edge of the border between the mainland and the island. Normally Tywin wouldn't have bothered to greet anyone that crossed his lands, but this was a special case, his encounter with that magical man, had thought him one thing.

The strangers had granted him special treatment, treatment he would soon put to use. Whoever had sent both the faceless man and the man of smoke, needed to be paid for doing such things d Lannisters always paid their debts.

"Welcome guild leaders and companions, I have prepared an escort for you." Tyson said to the strangers as they all gathered, those on horses simply rode , while the rest crossed by boat.

The men just looked at the knights in front of them, confused, before smiling.

"I see you thought ahead, thank you to be honest, we really didn't know where to go." A man said to Tywin, before a young girl opened up a chest filled with gold.

"We figured it was best to pay you for the wool you sent over, now that we had the chance." The man said before bowing and following his escorts away.

Tywin just watched them leaving, perhaps it was time to look for something else, a place that had minerals in it. He knew that the island had enough wealth in it, so why not kill two birds with one stone.


	38. Chapter 38

The sound of horse hooves walking could be heard one after another, alongside the sounds of armored boots crushing, stone, wood and the ground itself beneath them. The people didn't utter a word, they simply took in the sight of a forest that didn't have any creature waiting to kill them or do something worse.

They passed by the towns, villages that had no name and the various people within them all, none dared to make eye contact, yet the people themselves, seemed well fed, despite wearing very simple clothing.

The villagers looked at them with curious and fearful eyes, yet even when none of them would dare to look at the stranger's eyes, they nonetheless noticed that every single stranger was wearing armor, including the young children.

Slowly they soldiered on for two days only briefly stopping to take a rest for the night and get something to eat, they exchanged stories with the Lannister soldiers, stories about fairies, tools and trolls, while the Lannister soldiers returned to them tales of men of ice that reanimated the dead, creatures known as Children of the Forest, who once stole infants from their cribs and sacrificed them to their Gods.

The last story, the Lannister man gave in return, was of the events that occurred when the Targaryans first arrived, altho the soldiers themselves, made sure to make the stories much more mystical in nature.

Perhaps the Lannister soldiers, believed that they were only exchanging stories for children, things for both entertaining and teaching lessons, unbeknownst to them, however, the players comparing them, rook their words, as if they were the vivid memory of people that were glad their problems had ended.

For where some simply called such things as fantasy, the Adventurers called them reality, these were things they had to deal with daily and so, they simply asked how those things were beaten, the sword and fire, was the only answer they received.

So as the day came they once again moved out, soon the sounds of bells, string instruments, horns and trumpets could be heard, as the smiling faces of people walked past them, however, each was careful not to touch any of the strangers or even to dare make eye contact with any of them.

(Ned Stark)

Ned was eating his meal as his two daughters sat together alongside their septa and the daughter of the king and her septa, the girls spoke about meaningless things, while he ate comfortably, granted it wasn't time for him to eat, but he hungry nonetheless.

It seemed as if the anger between his daughters had softened somewhat and by the very least, the two were now on speaking terms, still when they spoke to each other, they held a slight edge to their words, but nothing time couldn't deal with.

Suddenly a guard rushed in, "Lord Stark, sir, forgive my interruption of your meal sir." The guard said as he gasped for breath.

Ned just looked at the man, waiting to know what was so urgent the man had to rush in and dare to stop him from eating. The man finally caught his breath and spoke again.

"Lancaster men accompanied by men and children all wearing armor and sigils, none recognize are asking to enter, sir." The guard informed Ned

It seemed as if time had finally come, to see just who these strangers were, so Ned followed the guard back to the throne room, soon all of the members of the small council would be present, alongside their own guards.

As he enters the throne room, Ned saw his old friend was already seated upon his throne made of a thousand swords, melted by Dragonfire and molded into the throne itself, by his side stood his queen, still as beautiful as ever, next to her was her oldest son.

Ned soon saw Myrcella walk past him and stand next to her father's side, away from her mother and soon a small figure of a boy with golden hair passes by, it was the Kings youngest son, besides them, were the royal guard, all dressed in armor painted gold.

"Let them in" the king ordered with a powerful voice, only blaming his war hammer for dramatic effect.

Room a man wearing red armor walked in first, next to him were two men wearing white armor, but the sigil of a red cross was painted on them, while a red man wearing the red armor bore a white cross on his shield.

"This was the one to watch out for, this is their leader" Ned thought to himself.

Next followed a girl with pink hair, who held a small war hammer at her side, besides her stood a girl with brown hair, who's neck was decorated, with a strange necklace, the necklace was shaped like a blue lizard with wings.

He was a southern man thought question, his armor was not remarkable by any way but on his back he carried a battle ax.

Next was a man who wore blue armor, from head to toe and only removed his helmet out of sheer respect, as not wanting to cause any problems.

No one spoke a word, the silence was only broken when a dog half the size of a man walked in and stood beside the man wearing the blue armor.

"Greetings from the land of Aincrad, we have come to greet the king of the Seven Kingdoms" the Southern man spoke.

Rober Baratheon just looked at the man, before smiling and roaring in laughter. "Good, God man I was wondering which one of us would break first. To think that all that was needed was a four-legged beast" the king laughed.

"Come on now, I am King of the Seven Kingdom, Rober Baratheon, this is my wife, my sons and daughter" Robert Baratheon introduced himself, before pointing at the young girl with the necklace shaped like a blue lizard with wings.

"My daughter told me about your pet, I don't like being fooled." The king told the girl.

Instantly the girl looked up towards the men with her, both men simply nodded, telling her to do so.

She reached towards her neck and the lizard immediately came to life and jumped off the girl's neck, the creature stood between the girl and the king, before it grew to the size of a large dog, instantly the entire throne room was filled with murders and gasps from the people gathered.

Ned could see his old friend tighten his grip on his war hammer, as he looked at the beast.

"Tell me, girl, what's your name?" Robert Baratheon asked the brown hair girl, however, Ned could see that his old friend was just waiting for the girl to say the wrong answer.

The girl timely walked forward and spoke. "He...hello, my name is Silica Keiko and this is my pet dragon Feather." The girl spoke, hesitantly.

"King that sits upon the throne of a thousand Kings, I am Michael of the Blue frontier, I come in place of my Guild Leader, for he is ill at the moment" spoke the man in blue armor, his voice was powerful, as if he was trying to take attention away from the girl and her fire breathing beast.

"Forgive late introduction, my name is Andrew Mills, I represent the merchant guilds of Aincrad" said the southern man.

"My name is Heathcliff, Leader of the Knights of the Blood and these are my honor guard" some the man in red armor.

Both the king and queen alongside his children and honor guard looked at the men and animals before them before a small voice spoke up.

"Hello, my name is Lisbeth Rika, its a pleasure to meet you, my lord."The girl's voice was rash and unladylike yet she waved at the princess as if she was eagerly waiting to see her again.

The prince's for her part smiled and waved back to the ill-mannered girl.


	39. Chapter 39

For a brief moment, Ned felt the world go quiet and the same black-haired young man walked into the throne room, yet his feet made no sound as he walked, for a brief moment that seemed to stretch eternally no one moved.

Every person and animal present was a statue, Ned was about to call out to the young man, when he suddenly felt the heat of fire near him, the only thing Ned could see was a massive sword, the size of which, was to greate for any man to carry, but the only thing Ne could focus on, was fire covering the sword.

The silence of the world vanished and Ned immediately heard the gasps and shocked voices of everyone present, as the two girls waved at each other, and suddenly the sound of the king's war hammer slamming onto the stone beneath him, suddenly made everyone become quiet.

"Have both of you forgotten your manners" Robert Baratheon scolded his daughter and the pink haired girl.

"There will be enough time for the two of you, to speak of pointless things, for now, we have to finest what has started. Now, how does a mountain suddenly show up, on the border of one of my houses?" The king asked the strangers.

There was a moment of silence before the elder man wearing the red armor spoke.

"We have no idea, in fact as you know, no one from Aincrad has so much as attempted to leave, for fear of letting loose, the things that are in that island. King of the Seven Kingdoms, as you know, we have contacted Lord Tywin Lannister, in hopes that he would build a wall to keep the dangers away."

"First let me sure you, that it was only luck that he was starting a settle meant there and its only under mutual protection that we will only be trading with him." This last part made many present just look at each other, before several cages covered in cloth, were rolled in by servants.

"I hope you understand, that saying something like that to a king, is the same thing as declaring war. After all, you are taking one house and declaring it as the only important one" The king said in a very restrained form, however, his anger was barely contained.

"We know, which is why, we brought proof. Uncover them!" The elder man ordered the servants.

The room was suddenly filled with screams of horror, the brown haired girl's blue dragon, assumed a protective stance between the cages and its master, its mouth, displaying the fires it was ready to use at a moments notice.

The entire guard, drew their swords, while the blue armored man's dog, prepared itself to defend its master, the dog's teeth were shown to everyone present.

Four creatures the likes should not exist, roared at the sight of all present, their claws stretched out, towards the people and the only thing that kept them away, were four metal cages.

"Orcs-goblins-trolls and a giant insect, they are the weakest creatures on the island. We came here hoping for peace, to tell you not to go inside Aincrad, because you could end up bringing things even worse than this into your kingdoms" the elder man spoke, but stopped for a moment, waiting for the king's answer, when he received none, he continued speaking.

"The people of Aincrad will stay on the island and never come to the mainland, in exchange, no one ever sets foot on Aincrad, place your guards on your side of the wall yo make sure of that, if that's what you want." The elder man said, before finally stopping.

"...You and your creatures will stay there and not set foot on Westeros." Robert Baratheon said.

"Kill the beasts in the cages, I won't have them on my lands" He ordered the strangers and instantly the guards wearing the white armors killed the creatures inside the cages.

"...Anyone else would have you killed for bringing those things here, but anyone that has ever fought any wars would know, that just putting those things in cages, would be next to impossible...I have seven kingdoms to rule and your power would be a great addition to my own..." The king spoke as if knowing, that his next decision would affect the seven kingdoms, former.

"...Deal, stay on your island, but you're forbidden from sailing anywhere near any lands, or training with anyone except Tywin Lannister and that's only because he's right next to you." Robert Baratheon made his decision right there before everyone present.

"Take those things back with you and clean up the blood" he ordered the strangers, the king was not even going to entertain the thought of letting them stay long enough to rest.

Immediately servants began to clean up the blood in front of everyone, before handing the strangers the blood covered rags and buckets filled with filth.

"Thank you" said the southern man, as several servants brought in sixteen chests filled with gold and gems of all sorts, there was no need for words, this was nothing more than someone saying, ill give you this much, just so you can leave me alone.

Soon the strangers had left and the king sat upon the throne grounded by everyone else.

"...Did you see it Ned?" Robert Baratheon asked his hand.

"My king?" Ned answers his old friend.

"They're scared, either there's something on that cursed island or they're scared of us, doesn't matter, they're scared." Robert Baratheon said as he tight end his grip on his war hammer.

"Tell the masters to look into every story about magic, everything from childhood fairy tales, to ancient writings, Tommen, Joffrey come with me, the rest of you leave me." Robert Baratheon ordered everyone present.

Ned saw something in his friend, something he hadn't seen in years, his old friend was motivated, there was a fire in his eyes, but Baratheons were only known to have those fires when times of conflict come.

Ned saw the first sighs of snow falling, before the snow touched him, however, he noticed that it was in fact ashes, as n

Ned looked for the origin of the ashes he saw the servants burning their clothes, the servants had cleaned the creature's blood, were being made to burn their clothes.


	40. Chapter 40

The slight screams of several women reached Ned's ears, two, in particular, belonged to his daughters, he could hear the sound of metal sliding, no doubt swords were being drawn by the guards.

Yet there was a feeling in the air, something Ned knew all too well.

It's the feeling one gets when he's in way over his head, whatever was going on in castle halls it was better to end it now, so he made his way out, yet even as he walked towards the door leading to the hall, Ned felt his heartbeat, becoming faster and faster.

The feeling was nearly overwhelming and had Ned been a weaker man, he would have never managed to set foot outside the door.

What his eyes saw was something that filled him with fear, the blue dragon was now the size of a horse and a castle guard had managed to get ahold the brown haired girl, long gone was the dog-like creature, now the dragon's mouth was spilling fire.

Ned had no doubt, that the moment the girl died, there would be no stopping the beast from burning everyone to ashes.

The only thing Ned's eyes could see was the blue dragon's mouth spilling flames, as it looked at the knight that was cowering under the beasts sight.

"That's enough, we didn't come here to fight. Just let go of her and we will leave." The voice of the elder man reached everyone's ears, as he attempted to stop the conflict from becoming something that could no longer be contained.

Ned watched the guard slowly loosen his grip on the girl, only for the girl to simply stretch out her hands and hold the beasts head, the same way one would hold onto a lover.

Ned had seen, stable boys do the same thing with horses, but what caught neds interest, was the way, the girl had dismissed the guard's attack, it was like if the man's sharpened sword and grip, were nothing to worry about, for her.

Yet again, having a guard, like the one she has, probably made her fairly confident in her safety.

"Let them go" Ned ordered the castle guards, his voice was carried through the entire hall, the knights lowered their swords, however, none of them dared to put their swords away.

The hallway was quiet now and Ned could see that the man wearing the red armor was now walking in front of the group of strangers, the southern man was at the back while the two knights wearing white armor, now stood protectively around the two young girls.

As the group walked Ned found himself walking behind the strangers, just to make sure that no one else tried to attack them anymore, as he followed Ned began to see the blue dragon, shrinking in size and sit on the top of the brown haired girls head.

Slowly the small group made their way back to the walls protecting Kings Landing and Ned found himself ordering the guards to stand down, slowly the strangers alongside their Lannister escorts vanished from view, taking with them the cages that still held the corpses of the creatures with them.

For a moment he stood there watching them leave, wondering why his old friend would have let the girl live, despite having seen the beast himself.

Things had just gotten a whole lot more problematic, more than one person had laid eyes on the girl, her escorts and the dragon, yet again, more than one person had seen every one of those people, obey and listen to the king.

Not only that they themselves had agreed, to stay away from the Seven Kingdoms, but even if that was true, those facts wouldn't stop the daring and stupid alike, from trying to get to that is d and its treasures, as well as people.

The elder Lannister would no doubt, make sure no one would so much as approach the island, Ned felt the cold wind on his face and for the briefest of moments he felt, as if he was once again in the northern lands.

The festival continued and as Ned walked past the many people, he found himself entirely alone, everywhere he went, the people would move and leave a wide breath, between themselves and him, as Ned walked back to the castle, he soon caught sight of both his daughters watching the strangers leave, behind the protective walls of the castle.

(Character change)

They had just left Kings Landing and it hadn't gone well per day, on one hand, they had basically been kicked out and told to never come back, and the other hand that's exactly what they had wanted to begin with.

The players already had enough problems as it was, to add a bunch of medical kings and knights to it all, so maybe it was a wine, still, it would have been nice to at least, have been able to enjoy the festival the people in Kings Landing were having.

So they walked back for hours, only stopping to make camp for the night, the moment the first bags fell on to the ground, was the moment all sound around the small group stopped.

The Lannister knights had already drawn their swords and the Knights of the Blood Oath soon followed their lead, however, no one could see anything, that resembled any form of danger.

"I assume you have been following us, ever since we left Kings Landing, I'm afraid you have already given out your location," said Heathcliff.

The silence injured until the sound of cloths moving in the wind made everyone looks above them, it was there that man stood watching them, he wore a black rag over himself, a skull mask covered his face and a black bodysuit covered him.

"I come to ask a question and nothing else, however depending on the answer, you will either live or die." The skull masked man said, as smoke began to rise from his body.

It was but a brief flash of light, but in that brief moment, the masked man found himself under the spear of the Blue Frontiers representative.

"Wrong, we're the ones asking the questions here" Michael said, before the as a sin vanished in a puff of smoke.


	41. Chapter 41

"Wrong answer" the voice if the masked man said, somehow sounding like it was coming from every direction.

"Adventurers, warriors of great skill and power, yet anyone that dares to look at you for an extended period of time will know one thing... You don't kill Humans" the assassin's voice lingered, almost as if the surrounding forest itself was holding every word in place.

"Looks like we won't be resting tonight" Michael said as he let his power flow into his spear, making it glow slightly.

The wind began to blow slowly and with it the sounds of leaves and branches, Michaels' eyes hardened as he listened carefully for the sound that would give away his opponents location, then briefly, the sound of something moving in the wind could be heard.

It was at that instant that Michal moved, his dog ran next to him, already knowing what it had to do.

Two knives were thrown at Michaels direction, only for him to block them with his spear, however, his opponent had already given away his location entirely and so Michaels dog used him as a platform and jumped onto the nearby trees.

The assassin moved trying to avoid the animal and he was about to stave it, only for Michaels spear to plunge itself into the man's hand.

"Adventurers don't kill you say." Michael said as he walked closer to his opponent, his dog was already placing the man's neck between his jaws.

As Michael stopped in front of the fallen makes man, he removed his right club, revealing a coffin tattoo, that seemed to have a laughing face drawn on the center of it.

"Why?" Michael asked

"..." The as assassin didn't answer

"Are there more of you out here?" Michael asked only to be met with silence.

"...Capture me if that's what you want, but neither you nor your friends will be able to stop what's coming. We know your planning to attack, after all why else" the man stopped speaking and began to choke on his own blood, as Michaels dog bit down on the man's neck and immediately let him go.

"It's talk like that, that gets a person killed." Michael said as he brought down his spear on the fallen man's heart and skull learning them both, there was no point on taking the man back with him, so as his dog began to eat Michael simply walked away.

The slight glimmer of the light of his spear, made him stop for a brief moment and kneel down so that he could pick up his opponent's knives.

Michael had to remind himself, that this wasn't a game anymore and the next wrong move he makes could be his last. He could hear his dog eating away at the deadman's corps, the fog would catch up to him when it was done, so he began to walk back to the group that was waiting for him.

"He's dead" Michael said to the group as he walked up to them, he let the man's knives fall in front of the group, confirming the man's death.

"Another one that kills himself?" Heathcliff said, altho sounded more like a question than anything else.

Michael simply nodded at the least of the Knights of the Blood Oath.

"Well no need worrying about a dead man, but we should get moving. If someone passing by, finds that corps we're all going to ha e problems" one of the Lannister knights said to them.

Like it or not, but the man was right, so they would have to walk back during the night as well and because of the would-be attacker, they would now be forced to walk back with ought any form of light, to guide them.

 **(Character change Ned Stark** )

Ned walked up to the king's throne room, it had been a while since the king had a hut himself away with his two sons and now as Ned finally saw his old friends face again, he swore the man looked somewhat older than before, despite it only being a few hours since then.

"One is too young and believes that being nice to people can stop wars, when people only go to war, when being nice is impossible"

"The other just wants to watch everyone in front of him die" Robert Baratheon said as Ned entered the throne room.

The king looked up for a brief moment and spoke. "It about time you got here" it wasn't much the way those words were spoken, had made Ned's senses scream with warnings.

"Tell me, Ned, did you know that the last two Targarians are alive in Esos? A simple yes or no ned. Robert Baratheon asked Ned directly.

" Yes, everyone knows that" Ned answered this old friend.

"Good, because I'm having her dealt with right this moment. I've already given the order, the only thing that's left is for you to say why this is a bad idea." Robert Baratheon said to Ned and Ned could feel his heart speed up.

"I heard she was to be wed to a Dothraki, someone that would never even try to cross the sea." Ned answered his old friend, hoping that reason might prevent his old friend from making a huge mistake.

The king however simply scratched his chin, as if he was expecting that answer.

"She is to marry a man with an army, an army that with the right motivation could invade, but your right they would never try to cross the sea."

"...You saw it with your own eyes and felt the beasts power, no doubt it was still an infant...imagine more than one dragon attacking us, or two dragons fighting each other."

"There would be no winners Ned, you know that, I know that. Hell, the Seven Kingdoms know that!"

"It would be a repeat of the dance of dragons! Ned, if I attack this girl, then those inside that island will retaliate and use everything including those things to fight us, but if the Targarians are killed no harm will come to the realm." Robert Baratheon said to his Hand, however Ned hoped his last attempt would make his friend stop.

"My king if you go thru with this, then your honor would be lost." Ned said to his old friend hoping that his honor, both as king and as a man would make him stop.

"Honer! I have Seven Kingdoms to rule Ned!"

'Seven Kingdoms! One king, you think honor keep them inline! No, fear does!" Robert Baratheon, the king, said to his old friend and unfortunately, Ned couldn't help but see that the king, his old friend was right.

"Leave" Robert Baratheon ordered everyone.

Like it or not the meeting was over and as Ned looked at his old friend one last time, he noticed that his old friend, was not the king at this moment, no, now he was just a man looking outside his window, at a comet burning red in the sky.


	42. Chapter 42

**(Character change Mordred** )

Her skin felt tight, the cold touch of the uncaring wind combined with the rain that managed to enter the cave made it nearly impossible to stay hidden. Not much had happened so far, the adventurers had just exited the cave, walked around a bit and set up camp.

A few of them walked to the entrance of the cave and at the edge where both ends of the dragons ended and placed something, about the size of a grain of sand. For a moment Mordred felt the need to examine what it was, until the familiar voice of her mother made itself known.

There were no words spoken, for the woman's words were sent directly into her mind, a marker had been placed, this tiny insignificant object ensured that even if the caves were brought down and anyway for both sides of the caves to meet, were entirely cut off, for the adventurers, that fact would be meaningless.

They would simply teleport to the other side, if the cave was completely lost, then the markers at the entrance of the cave would work, if the bridge were to fall, well who needed a bridge, when you can just show up at the other end.

A clever trick, one that made both enemies and allies fight over a useless bridge, when the important things were, in fact, the markers themselves.

From time to time, smoke would move quickly, sometimes avoiding the adventurers, sometimes taking advantage of their distraction to move past them, in either case, the smoke would make sure to not be noticed.

Unfortunately for them, Mordred had already sent working to the king and by extension, the lower kingdoms of the lesser floors, the shadows, the spies that nearly everyone employed are their move almost immediately and we're now tracking the black smoke.

Lancelot had gone on ahead to see what the adventurers were doing, he did so not by any form of trickery or even hiding at all, but by simply walking up to the adventurers and asking them.

Mordred expected the man to be attacked immediately, but to her surprise, the adventurers were completely open to telling him what they were doing.

Apparently this cave was the only way to go up the mountain and to prove this they summoned that illusion magic, apparently, every adventurer could use, this was a problem one that was a lot more telling then what Mordred ever truly wanted to know.

What had been casually shown to Lancelot, was a detailed map of all of the lesser kingdoms, areas that marked where the adventurers could go, just by teleporting, her father's kingdom was amongst the areas mapped and apparently, the adventurers had somehow been inside the castle and made a complete map of it.

Apparently, the only reason they were staying put, was simply because moving into an in known region, I thought reinforcements was completely insane even by the adventurer's standards.

The monsters weren't the problem, nor was the climate, not even the lack of food, apparently, the issue was the people.

The adventurers wanted to avoid killing anybody and that would be a problem, up until now the only real threat so far were the monsters and ending up broke, with no money whatsoever, that wasn't the case anymore.

Mordred watched the images sent to her by Lancelot as he himself was being shown the images by the adventurers. There were lots of monsters, there were ruins, dungeons, towers and caves to explore.

These things were the adventurer's specialties, but there were a number of dots all over the map that displayed a certain set of words that made the adventures hesitant to go forward.

 **Hostile Humans**

That was troubling, but what fought Mordred's attention was the massive wall in the distance, someone had to have built it and that meant another kingdom, one that was right next to her fathers own, that knowledge alone was troubling.

Before the adventurers advised Lancelot to leave as soon as possible, they told him that should he be around when things go bad, then any form of deniability the lower kingdoms may have would be completely lost.

It was a weak defense, but still it was a way to avoid war, reluctantly Lancelot left the cave leaving her completely alone...no she wasn't alone, somewhere close by her mother was watching her and the adventurers, from where ever she was her many spells made sure that no one would ever notice her, until it was too late.

( **Ned Stark** )

The festival was ending, slowly the sounds of the string instruments, the voices of the people that weren't originally from Kings Landing were slowly vanishing, it had been two days since the strangers had left and unfortunately, he found himself doing manual work.

Unfortunately, that meant he was now forced to sort out the troubles of the crown and that meant he now had to find out just how many bastards his old friend had, of course before that he had to know, how many bastards, did the original king and prince have.

And now Ned found himself having to drink more than he normally would have, from as far as the Baratheon line went, every child had black hair, at first Ned thought that perhaps this was a mistake and surely some other family must have fathered or given birth to children with different hair or eye color.

Yet no matter how far back Ned searched it was just black hair, the eye color changed from time to time but the hair was always the same.

Ned drank his fifth cup of wine and closed the last page, every page that marked the bastards were the same, black hair, there was no denying it anymore, none of the king's children were his own... He drank another cup and began to weigh his options, his heart was beating, the consequences of his next decision would have consequences that would be felt by everyone.

It's too early for the strangers to aid the Lannisters should a war start, but if they believed that they might be invaded, then it would be an unknown number of soldiers with unknown weaponry marching across Westeros.

It would be something comparable to the Andals invasion of Westeros, but not telling his old friend would be comparable to treason and he wouldn't do it again, but back then, who was he to betray, his old friend or his own sister.

Ned lowered his next cup, he needed to tell the queen, the chance that her father would take her back was high, if not then her and her children would have to flee to the east and hide amongst the commoners.

First he needed to send his daughters away, lest something goes wrong and they get caught up in all of the problems, again he drank another cup and felt the words begging to move, the wine was finally doing its job.

 **(Arthur/ Arturia** )

She could feel it flowing thru her veins, the swords magic was fighting an unknown poison, whether it was a magical one, or one she had eaten/drunken or simply breathed in didn't matter, what mattered was that someone had tried to kill her.

A figure emerged from a cloud of black smoke and stood directly in front of her.

"My, my, I must say, it's impressive that you're alive" said the woman wearing a skull mask and wearing a right black body suit.

Arturia didn't answer, instead she sat perfectly still and acted like if her body had become something like a statue.

"...Interesting, it seems you can't move, the gas has never done that to people before" the woman said as she walked right up to Arturias throne.

"Well, it's time to die" she said as she drew a large knife, it was but an instant, but in that one instant, the skull masked woman lost both her arms.

Arturia rose from her seat and stood over the failure of an assassin, her form towering over the fool, no longer did the king hid her power, no instead she let it flow freely and the supposed killer screamed like a pig.

Mordred's warning paid off, the smoke figures were in fact from that other land, suddenly several dead men fell from the ceiling, as shadows began to surround Arturia.

"My king, we've dealt with all of the intruders and the ones sent below have also been dealt with, but we bring words" the lead shadow spoke to Arturia, altho his words seemed troubled.

"..." Arturia

"The shadows attacked the nursery and the school of the Adventurers..." The shadow paused as if he had difficulty even saying the next set of words.

"The adventurers have people called Elites, there were no survivors, every attacker was crushed, not by spells or with weapons, but by simply being near them" the shadow said before Arturia closed her eyes, telling him to leave and take the filth with him

The shadows graved every corps and dragged them into the darkness with them, Arturia looked at the remains of her would be killer and realized that soon she would have to move again.

Ever since she could remember, she had always defended her lands, now for the first time it seemed as if she was going to have to be the one to invade, but for now someone had to come and clean up the crushed remains of the pig she had just killed.

A servant walked in with several lions and dogs, it was interesting seeing both kinds of animals share their food and Arturia began to think of her next move, perhaps it's time to speak to the adventurers directly.

Mordred's wife seemed to be more of a scout, the ones people send just to gather information, so if any deals were going to be made, then they would have to be within the main kingdom of the Adventurers, bit going there herself was a double edge sword.

On one side she would appear weak, on the other she would seem like an invader, giving those lower than her an ultimatum.

What was she to do, Mordred seemed infatuated with that man, so perhaps a political marriage, that would certainly get rid of one headache, but would only make more later on. So what was she to do?


	43. Chapter 43

( **Kirito** )

The clouds were starting to cover the sky, they were starting to show up more and more, unfortunately, because of that everyone now had to figure out what to do, one of two things were going to happen, either it was the time for the raining season, or winter had come, so they would have to worry about everyone not freezing to death.

Granted there were floors that were in a constant state of cold, but that didn't change the fact that the people living near them weren't from those areas at all, in fact, Kirito didn't even know, if Aincrad had ever experienced the changing of the seasons.

So that meant that as the ruler of his small patch of land it fell upon him to get coats and all of the warm clothing for the people living near his home, unfortunately, that meant he had to search for the lowest prices and like it or not, most of all of the lowest priced clothing was in the surrounding kingdoms.

One rule was made, it was unspoken and only recently was it even written down and agreed by everyone,

No one would do anything to antagonize any of the nearby kingdoms, this meant everything, from attacking the people, verbally or physically, harming them economically or affecting the people by, illness. This included affecting their animals and that meant a variety of things.

It didn't mean the players couldn't enter the kingdoms, it just meant they couldn't buy or sell too much, no long term deals, just get in and get out. This was done, due to the fact that the surrounding kingdoms could easily just declare war, or send in assassins to deal with the players and if not the players themselves, the people around them.

Ordinary people don't enter dungeons just to explore or hunt monsters, most if not all people would rather just live their lives never experiencing those kinds of dangers, its one of the reasons the players had simply slowed down and started living their lives.

So materials weren't the problem, it's the time and people needed to make the clothing itself, when they needed to concentrate to tending to their fields and building their homes, so cost was also a factor because things would be needed further down the line, so here he was stuck buying warm clothing from every one of the lower floors.

The cold wind blew and slowly the temperature began to drop, until small specks of white snow began to fall, kirito stopped walking and looked up at the sky and exhaled he, watched his breath become mist.

All of a sudden an alert from Aincrads main system was sent out and Kirito felt his eyes widen at its implications.

 **Aincrad defense system realization complete, water stable, air stable, soil and minerals stable, surrounding environment adequate for all Human life. Due to the continued adult of the entities of this world, a vote must be taken.**

 **A barrier has maintained all entities within Aincrad, the only exceptions being creatures that are similar to those with this world, however, due to the repeated attacks by the Fish Men, the Astral projectors and the beings of ice, along with the fact that the inhabitants of this world have set foot in Aincrad.**

 **All players must choose whether to keep the barrier up, Aincrads defense system will continue to terminate all intruders, however, no longer will the creatures of Aincrad be forced to remain, within its borders.**

 **Mountain barrier YES)( No...awaiting answer**

Korito stood there watching the snow fall around him, as people walked passed by, watching the counter go up, for both the yes and no options.

Still he had to get all of the clothes be had just bought, back home, so he couldn't just stand there looking at the sky, this was his last job around, because of the attack he was given two extra days to stay with his family, but he had to get back to work.

(Robert Baratheon)

He swung his hammer, making his sweat fly with every move, his large gut was just getting in the way, he remembered his youth, the fights he had, the maidens he took to bed and the married women that pulled him into their room.

He remembered the war all those years ago and how he killed that Tagarian, he remembered every soldier, every knight and the Targarians sword that was melted into his hammer, the Targarians sword was better left lost, but as a reminder of everything he lost all those years ago, he had that mans swords melted and used to repair his hammer.

An insult and a trophy, he tried to stop himself from feeling the loss from back then and he found himself trying to control his anger at the memory that that girl was alive in the east and the fact that another dragon was living nearby.

His hammer fell to his side with a loud thump, he couldn't swing his hammer anymore, he needed something to clear his mind, maybe he needed to go hunting, yeah that was it, Ned could deal with the kingdoms issues.

When he got back, he would lead a single at the stranger's island, but something like that took time and effort, but right now he needed to rest.


	44. Chapter 44

( **Character change Klein** )

They had been walking for hours and if they didn't find anywhere dry they would be forced to teleport back to the cave, just so they could stay warm, there was no point on dying like this, slowly the sounds of people talking began to reach his ears.

One by one his teammates begin to assume their positions, just in case they had to fight off any would-be attackers.

One by one they exited the tall grass and found themselves staring at a large village, paper lamps were light, it made sense considering that it would soon be dark.

"Got it" Dynamm said as he looked at the village in front of him, there was no point on meeting the locals at the moment and the temperature was still dropping, so being able to get to the village and back was the best option at the moment.

"Why don't we go meet the locals" said a feminism voice behind them.

Klein instantly tensed up, before spinning around and letting out a breath, when his eyes met with the owner of the voice, she wore a school girls dress, a typical sailor dress, only that it was all black and had a red belt tied to her waist. Her long black hair and dark almost black eyes, made her looks almost like a doll, especially considering the girls cream skin, long black socks and red shoes.

"It's too dangerous, there are a lot of red marks. There are enemies everywhere" Klein answered the girl.

She just looked past him and walked forward. "Good, you heard about the attack on the nursery, right? Isn't it strange, that the moment we crossed to this floor, everyone was attacked... **I just want to talk** " she said as she walked passed Klein and his guild.

There were no orders given, hell when one of the elites tells you to do something, you don't question it, you just do it, but she hadn't given any orders, so they were free to leave and Klein was just about ready to order his team to head back when she spoke once again.

"It would be interesting to try out the local drinks, why don't you boys join me." She said as she walked further and further ahead, she never once bothered to turn back.

"Excuse me, where can I get a warm drink?" She asked a passing by woman, however, the woman just ignored her and kept on walking.

Like it or not, Klein knew that he and his team were now going to go along with her, wherever she wanted to go and they had no choice but to do it.

Again she asked the same question to a boy that was running by, but he to ignored her, Klein could hear the people talking to each other, so it wasn't that their languages were any different, considering he could understand them.

Finally, she stopped in front of an old man sitting on a bench, his cane at his side. "Excuse me elder, where can I get something warm to drink?" She asked the man.

The old man simply looked at her for a long moment before speaking. "Outsiders aren't welcomed here, if you want to spread your legs do it somewhere else." The man's words were filled with anger and disgust as he spoke.

She just looked at him and smiled. "Hummmm, hmmm, hmmm" he began to move her hips side to side playful.

"Mister what do you know about people that can turn into smoke?" She asked the old man, get even long before she had even finished her question, the old man jumped at her, sword in hand, unfortunately for him, his sword didn't last.

With her right hand she cut the old mans sword, the metal flying away, while with her left hand she held the old man by the throat.

The sounds of metal unsheathing as the men of the village drew their swords, immediately Fuurinkanzan drew their own, Klein watched her just looking at the old man, she smiled as she held him firmly in place, Klein watched as the old man's eyes began to fill with fear, as the realization began to set in.

They couldn't beat her.

"The wall, I don't know anymore" the old man said, as he struggled to speak, while being held by the through by her.

"...I see...Gentlemen, I understand that you are only defending your homes and loved ones, but if you don't put those swords away, then every man, woman and child dies. I'm not in a good mood today" she said, her voice holding no signs of humor.

The men slowly lowered their swords.

She smiled "Now, where can I get a warm drink?" She asked the old man, who just pointed at a small wooden house at the edge of the village.

She let go of the old man and began to walk towards the small house, however as she walked forward Klein and his team could feel something was off, it was like if the villagers didn't want to get anywhere near that house, swing as the area around it was almost completely empty.

As she walked forward a man wearing green smooth form-fitting armor stepped out, his helmet seemed to have need carefully crafted just for him, the man just looked at the approaching woman in front of him and drew his sword.

Just like that it was over, the man fell over unconscious. "He's alive" she said before turning to look at the spot where the old man stood, his eyes now filled with fear.

Klein watched as the woman walked in and walked out. "The House is empty, only pots and pans, along with things people need to live...take the prisoner back with you, teleport **Now**." She ordered

There was no point in staying behind, what could they do, Klein and his guild just liked up the fallen soldier and teleported back to the cave, leaving the woman alone, the last thing Klein heard, was the sound of a sword being drawn.


	45. Chapter 45

(Point of view change)

The sound of gunshots spread through the land. Bloom, boom, boom, only for the sound of a sword colliding with the projectiles to immediately be heard after every shot.

The villagers that once believed themselves strong, could only watch in horror, when the strangers arrived they believed they could fight them off and now they had all been disarmed and were at the stranger's mercy.

No, no that wasn't right, if the stranger didn't enslave them for their arrogance, then the empires soldier would execute them, for failing to help that soldier that had been carried away.

The sound of metal falling as the empires soldier unloaded his gun and reloaded, this was the lifetime and each time he stopped to do so, the woman in the black cloths would shorten the distance between them, each time getting closer and closer.

It was a sight to be held in its truest sense, the woman dressed in black was fighting completely blind, never had her opponent shown himself, or perhaps it was herself, but nonetheless, it didn't change the fact that the stranger was fighting an unseen enemy and to everyone that was watching, it looked like if she was winning.

Each time closer and closer to her target, each time her sword neared her enemies neck, the old wind of winter had come and slowly snow had begun to fall, but despite not really wearing much of anything at all, the stranger fought on, never caring for the climate.

Again the sound of metal hitting dirt and sound of a tree falling.

Ping! That was it, the sound of metal hitting metal, the stranger had found her target, long gone was the silence in between each gunshot, like if the sound of silence that lingered before and after, each gunshot was stopped by the woman's sword, never existed.

Now all that there was, was the sound of constant strikes of metal, boom, the sound of a gunshot and nothing more, slowly the sounds of footsteps alongside the sound of something dragging could be heard.

The villagers watched, wanting to turn and run away, but despite their instincts telling them to flee, they couldn't help, but stand there and watch, hoping to see who had won.

Slowly a figure began to form from the surrounding darkness, until the woman dressed in black walked towards them, behind her a soldier, wearing the average armor worn by the walls watchers laid, as she dragged him behind her.

"I want a warm drink" the woman said and quickly the villages woman ran to their homes before returning as quickly as possible.

The stranger simply smiled and drank a single cup, from the many around her, before vanishing from sight, taking the soldier with her.

(Point change)

The cold wind blew, soon winter would fully arrive and the wall would be even more difficult to defend, the men stayed vigilant, it helped that many had formed families at the wall and each member was now finding its place, within the walls function.

The greater wall kept the empire safe from the savages of the west and it had stood for thousands of years, no beast, creature or savage, had ever brought down a single stone.

"Os this true?" He asked she assassin in front of him.

"Yes" was all the assassin answered.

He folded the piece of paper before burning it with the fire from a nearby candle. "...All of them are dead..." He said as if trying to understand what he had just read, his mind could barely understand the words he himself had just spoken.

He exhaled "...Tell me off the record, what do you know." He told/ordered the assassin.

"Off the record?" The assassin asked.

"Off the record" he confirmed.

"...My lord the people of the west aren't as savage as we once believed, further west there are kingdoms, creatures and beast that we have never encountered walk the lands and each kingdom has creatures and worries that we would need an army to stop."

"Either an army or one of the empires strongest to defeat those creatures. However, the moment the Kings and their strongest get involved, we might not win." The assassin said before hesitating.

Noticing this the man looked at him, before looking at the man and simply wordlessly, ordering the man to continue.

"...There are diapers that the dead are rising and that the stranger's font die, we kill one they size again, but there are those that if hurt that method won't work again, we burn them and flames won't work again."

"We attacked them and they are coming in retaliation." The assassin said before a short sword cut off his head, a member of his order, killed him for showing so much emotion.

The man watched as the corpse was dragged away and the blood was cleaned off the floor. "...The savages will have to hold the invaders off for now." He thought to himself, before beginning to search for solutions, things needed to prevent deserters, when the fight finally arrived.

Perhaps concubines for every soldier along with a significant pay raise, it didn't matter anyway, after all, every gold and gem spent always returned to the control of the walls treasury. Still, orphans and children from the lower classes would have to be brought in, how many would live and how many would due, was never known, until the fighting finally ended.


	46. Chapter 46

( **Ned Stark)**

Ned Stark walked down the castle halls, he passed his eldest daughter Sasa, sitting alongside the kings eldest daughter, alongside both their Septas, knitting their various garments.

No, Ned reminded himself, the girl wasn't his old friend's daughter, whoever fathered the bastard girl was her father, his old friend had merely given her his name. He stopped for a moment and looked at the two young women, both were at marriage age.

The outcome of his decision would be felt for years to come, so it was better to warn the girl's mother before he told his old friend, better that she and her bastards flee the lands before it was too late for them.

Things like this were not rare, in fact it happened nearly all the time amongst the little people, the husband goes to work and while he is gone, his wife spreads her legs for someone else, whether she did it out of fear or lust, didn't matter the results were always the same.

One the husband either discarded the woman and her bastards, forcing them to stay away and never return, even while they be fed for forgiveness.

In truth this was what Ned was hoping for, that his old friend would cast the queen and her children out, never to return.

The next option, was that, all those involved would be executed on the spot. That was the king's woman and those kids should have been his, it would be nothing more but an example, for the next woman that took the current queens place.

The last option, was one Ned himself had seen happen, the girl would be taken to the kings private room, she was already at childbearing age. She wasn't the kings daughter and her appearance was fair, there was no reason to get rid of the Queen, the king would simply impregnate them both.

Ned began to walk again, if his old friend chose, any other option than the first one, then the Lannisters would surely retaliate, what was once an assured victory, was now completely uncertain, the strangers changed the battlefield and having so many unknowns, would surely affect the outcome of the war, that was certain to come.

Ned walked past the various fires that gave light to the castle halls, the cold winds had yet to truly affect the inside of the castle, but soon even the hot halls would be freezing cold, already it was getting dark far too quickly, soon the only source of light available, would be the various fires inside the castle.

The sound of wood connecting as it hit another piece of wood, soon reached Ned's ears and he found himself staring at his youngest daughter training, as she tried to learn how to use the sword.

Ned thought back and began to think, he needed to speak to the council, perhaps they had thought of something he hadn't, perhaps they could stop his old friend from killing someone that was no threat to him at all.

Perhaps they could help him find his old friend a better wife and if they couldn't, his own eldest daughter would suffice, like it or not, their marriage would accomplish the same thing, as what was originally intended, between the bastard and his daughter.

The relations with the north would be strengthened and no one would have broken any promises, as he thought this Ned felt a smile cross his face, yet there was a light in all of this chaos.

"Ned!" The voice of Peter Baelish the kings Coin, reached Ned's ears as the man called out to him.

Ned just turned to look at the man, altho he didn't bother to answer him.

"Good I caught up to you." Peter Baelish said before pausing as he looked at Neds face, the man's smile slowly vanished as he looked at Ned.

"So you know that the king's children aren't his, its written all over your face".Peter Baelish said to Ned.

" How did you?" Ned began to ask before Peter Baelish cut him off.

"The king knows Stark, the man is a drunk, not a fool. The king beds every woman he wants and the queen she hops into bed with however she wants, the kingdom has, its princes and princesses...Word of advice Stark don't overstep your boundaries" Peter Baelish warned Ned.

Ned just looked at the man before Peter Baelish walking in front of him. " I was going to tell you something interesting, but I think it's better if I show you something just as interesting." Peter Baelish said to Ned.

Ned followed the arrogant man closely and he soon found himself feeling more and more like a rabbit that would soon be seen.

"See that guard over there" Peter Baelish said, as he pointed at a guard standing watch. "He's one of the queens spies"

"See that boy carrying wood" he's one of the master of whisperers spies.

Then Peter Baelish did something that made Ned's heart speed up. "See that woman serving your daughter a warm drink...shes one of mine." Ned had already drawn his sword fully prepared to kill the arrogant fool.

Yet even as Ned held his sword at Peter Baelishe's neck, he found himself feeling as if he was in a fight he could not win and so slowly Ned lowered his sword. The Kings Coin, however, never stopped smiling.

"Stop thinking that a sword will always save you and realize that you are now invoked in a bigger game then what you're used to." Peter Baelish said, before walking away and leaving Ned standing at the side of the window, he and the king's coin were looking thru.

"Kings, queens, bastards and so on don't matter Stark, along as the realm lives, think before you act." Peter Baelish said, as he walked away, never bothering to turn back and look at Ned.


	47. Chapter 47

Ned watched the man walk away and replayed the situation in his mind, slowly he began to realize that something wasn't right, how had Peter Baelish known that he had discovered the truth about the king's children, unless he had already been spying on Ned.

Clearly, that was the reason why the man had shown Ned some of the spies that were running around the castle, yet as Ned replayed the conversation in his mind, he realized that something else was hidden amongst what the man had tried to tell him.

Whatever that thing may have been, Ned couldn't see it, no matter how hard he tried.

Slowly the sun completely went away, it was now night time and the only light inside the castle was that of the torches, Ned turned to look back in the direction where his eldest daughter was and realized he could no longer see her.

The light of the candles and fireplace light the room where she was currently in, but as hard as Ned tried to see her, he found that he no longer could.

There was no point in standing there anymore, two things needed to happen, first he needed to talk to the queen and then speak to his old friend, both of those were related, so they counted as one thing.

The second thing was, that apparently there would be no fall this year and so, he would need to start figuring out how to ration the food around the kingdom.

Ned walked down the halls of the castle once more and once again he found himself standing at the entrance of a room, this time the sound of bone hitting flesh could be heard, alongside the voice of an older man.

"Don't fear the dark boy, embrace it. If you're going to die, then take the son of a bitch with you, that way you don't go to the afterlife alone." Said the elder man's voice.

Ned watched trying to see who the elder man was talking to, only to realize that he was speaking to the youngest of the boys, each time the boy heard the elder, the elder would strike either disarming the boy or sending him to the ground.

Ned watched and smiled briefly, however, his smile soon vanished, that training was meant for the king's son and the bastard clearly wasn't the king's son, he knew that now and because of that, he could no longer look at the boy in any sort of respectable way.

He decided to leave the room behind and not interfere, it was better not to destroy whatever mood the boy may have had at the moment, soon it would all be over for him anyway, what destroy it before it was time for him to go.

Finally he reached his destination, the main dining hall, the doors were open, as Ned walked in, he found himself staring at the queen she was still as beautiful as ever, her golden hair that reached just below her waist, her long elegant dress and pale skin, along with her blue eyes, truly made her a beauty to be seen.

An elegant meal of meats, fruits milk and wine were carefully placed in front of her, while to the side Ned could see several prisoners held by chains. They were all so thin that the bones were already striking out of their bodies.

It was a harsh punishment, but one fit, for those that stole from the kings personal hunting grounds.

Candles decorated the room and somehow the stone within the dining room seemed to be painted red with their light.

Ned took in the sight for a moment and noticed the difference between the queen and her daughter, where the princess deemed to radiate light and shine everywhere driving away the darkness that would otherwise, make a room feel cold and unwelcoming and replacing it, with the feeling of warmth.

The queen was the exact opposite, the room around her was dark and the only light around, was that of the candles and fire being burned for warmth and light.

Somehow, someway the light seemed to be drained by the queen herself and somehow the woman looked even more beautiful, a golden beauty that stood within the darkness, the only light amongst the dark.

Ned had to admit, his breath was taken away as he watched the woman eat, but he had a duty and he was going to do it and so he walked up to the queen, until he stood right next to her.

"Lord Stark, have you come to join me in my meal or have you simply come to get a closer look?" The queen asked him, before putting a piece of chicken in her mouth.

Ned swallowed he suddenly felt like a cornered rat. "There's no easy way for me to say this, but I know your secret. I'll give you until the king returns from his hunt to escape the castle, take your children with you and run." Ned told Cersei Lannister.

She didn't even bother to stop eating.

Slowly her chewing began to slow down until she finally stopped "... Is this a joke?" Asked him.

Ned just looked at her before answering "No"

Cersei just wiped her mouth using a bright red napkin and turned to look at him." There are only a few ways this can and will end one I leave with my children, two you and I go to my room and do what men and women do. Finally, I can have you killed, for threatening me, your daughters will be taken as prisoners and raped publicly, as an example" she said as she looked at him, her bright blue eyes, were now cold as ice.

"Sit down and eat, we're negotiating and the fact that I'm eating all of this is proof that it's not poison. Eat from my plate, if that makes you comfortable." She said before continuing to eat.

"Why?" Ned asked.

"Because you are a fool, that doesn't even begin to realize what he has gotten himself in. I planning to kill both your daughter for what the bitch did to my son, but now, now I know, that even if I did that it would be meaningless." She said as she ate a grape.

Ned was about to draw his sword, when an arrow flew right past his head.

"Eat" Cersei repeated.

Ned couldn't see where the attacker was and even if he was on guard he couldn't hope to stop another a row, if they were shot from multiple directions. He slowly turned to look at the queen before she began to speak again.

"Kill me and you will have to explain, why and knowing the king, he won't care." She told him.

Reluctantly Ned lowered his sword and pull out a chair.

"Your daughter's engagement will end, the North has nothing to offer us. It's much too cold, you see, now choose which one you want to keep, a hostage for a hostage. I know your secret Stark, I know who the bastards mother is.


	48. Chapter 48

The taste of finely seasoned pork filled Ned's mouth, as the burst of flavor spread as he took his first bite.

"What do you want?" Ned asked the queen.

She just kept on eating and didn't even bother to acknowledge his question, finally after drinking some wine she turned to look at him.

"Weren't you listening, I just told you what I wanted." The queen said to him before she contained eating, however, this time rather than continuing to eat the actual food, she had switched to eating a piece of cake.

"... There's something you're not telling me" Ned said, as he watched her stuff her face.

"Of course there is, will I tell you. No, why?, I simply don't care to" she said to him in between bites.

Ned just watched the woman as she continued to stuff her face. "... What's stopping me from telling the king right now?" Ned asked her, both fearing the answer and wanting to know, if she truly had him in a corner or not.

"You won't make it that far" Cersei said to him before placing her hand between his legs and gripping his midsection.

"Winter is almost upon us and soon your son will be the head of the house, while the many houses of the north hid from the cold. Tell me when will they hear about your death, while they are busy fucking one another or after the people of the south have taken the lower lands." Cersei said to Ned, as she tried to show him he had no way of warning the North should he die.

Ned just kept quiet and weighed his options before closing his eyes and rising from his seat, he had admired defeat and whether he liked it or not, neither he nor his daughters were anywhere near safe at the moment.

As he walked away Ned heard the voice of the queen as she called out to him. "Lord Stark choose which daughter will remain and send the other one away." There was a long pause after that and as Ned was about to finally leave she spike again.

"Keep one and send the other away immediately, you have two days." She said and Ned could no longer stand being in the same room as the woman, so he walked away, leaving her behind, until the only sounds he could hear, were the moans of the starving men that were forced to watch the queen eat, as they were chained to the walls.

His only hope now was reaching his old friend before the queen could fulfill any of the threats, however as things stood, for now, he was forced to play the queens little game, like it or not his youngest daughter wouldn't last as a prisoner.

No, the girl would act like the child she was and would quickly cause her captor's anger to grow, until they either killed her or broke her.

Ned didn't even want to think of the implications of what that might mean, so his eldest would have to do, she was well versed in the makers of a lady and even if the queen married her off to some lower person, he spat that last part. The girl's manner would keep her safe from any harm, so like it or not for now, his eldest daughter would have to stay behind, at least until he could rescue her.

Slowly Ned walked down the castle halls until he found the kings armory, this was the room, the king and those before him, kept their weapons and armors. Ned was hoping to find his old friend and to his despair he found himself looking at an empty room, sure the weapons were there and the armors were in their place, but his old friend was nowhere to be seen.

Ned just stood there as the last candlelight inside the room burned out.

( **Arther/Arturia** )

Her personal guard had gathered one by one, perhaps it was the hand of fate making its presence known, the lower floors wanted blood, some blamed the adventurers for the ever-growing unease, yet try as they might they failed to find any form of aggression that the adventurers might have done.

At the end of the day, the adventurers hadn't done anything wrong, they had just kept to themselves and stayed away from literally everyone else.

What crime had they committed, walking into an upper floor and simply defeating the floor guardian, according to the shadows, the people on the other side didn't even care about the area the players were currently in, no, they were too busy living on top of their wall.

Somehow she had been able to keep the lower floors under control, but they still wanted blood and should something happen, there would no way of stopping them and a war will be unavoidable.

Still, right now her most trusted knights were gathered, as they were watching the events unfolding in front of Mordred, the darkness of the night had fully taken over and now the only light available was that that the sites the adventurers had light.

However, as they watched they could feel no sense of calm that under any other circumstances would be present, in fact even in times of war, the men could find small moments to relax and enjoy themselves.

The air around the adventurers camping site, had come of that, there was a growing feeling of dread, coming from every direction, every direction besides the cave itself, but nonetheless, it was growing ever closer.

The sounds of metal moving were now being heard as one after another the adventurers drew their swords, suddenly several men, woman and children walked up to the adventurers, their eyes hollow and filled with dread.

None of them cared for the fact that the people in front of them were armed, no they just cared that there was light nearby, one by one, or in groups, they sat near the fires no matter how small they were and stayed close never saying a word.

Merdred drew her sword, the feeling of dread was growing, so much so, that the few servants inside the throne room were forced to flee in fear.

Arturia watched and realized she had intimately moved her hand closer to her sword, she briefly looked around and found that the rest of the knights had done the same.

The screams of a woman could soon be heard, soon more and people could be seen, some with cuts, bites and even large patches of flesh missing from them.

Arturia watched as Mordred turned her head to see an all to familiar face use a stone to light up the area around him.

"Rats!" Klein screamed as he began to use the stone to shoot flames onto the ground beneath him.

Soon the rest of the adventurers began to do the same, either by using torches or by utilizing the magic stones, yet even the rats didn't seem to care, there was something in the air, something in a rural, something evil.

Then the light of the moon began to shine, as the clouds parted, Arturia could feel her instincts take over and her eyes harden.

In front of Mordred and stood the adventurers fighting off the waves of hungry and fearful rodents, but beyond them stood an entire legion of Orc, Goblins, trolls and what looked like a kind of giant snake being ridden by the leaders of the entire army.

"Send the call, we need reinforcements" one of the adventurers ordered, as the light of the moon started to fade away.


	49. Chapter 49

Arturia watched the events unfold and slowly she began to hear a voice speak. "Many will die here tonight," the voice said.

As a man ran passed Mordred, as she remained hidden amongst the shadows keeping watch of the events happening in front of her.

Soon several men and women all of varying ages arrived to help the ever-weakening defenders, no that wasn't right, Arturia looked closer at the images sent by Mordred, both the men and women were young, not so young as for them to be in bed sleeping, hidden away from the dangers of the world.

But young as in the way, that each woman present could bear up to ten, maybe twenty children before she turned forty.

Arturia could hear Mordred breathing speed up, as he, no she crushed several rats that claimed onto of her armor and tried to force their way in. It was strange how she now had to remind herself, that the young man was, in fact, a young woman, when she herself was doing, exactly the same thing.

"His breathing is getting louder" said one of the onlookers.

"He wants to join in the fight" said another.

"What for, the main threat hasn't even moved and the adventurers are just trying to control the plague. His place is amongst the shadows, at least until a true threat shows itself." Said the eldest of the group.

Arturia listens to the men talk amongst themselves, the Knights of the Round Table, for the first time in weeks, they had all gathered together and she hadn't even called for them.

A blast of light shone dangerously close to Mordred's location, as the adventurers tried desperately to hold off the rat infestation, but the cold wind and snow, that were making their presence known made burning the pest, unnecessarily difficult, add to that the fact that the infestations size was impossibly lard and wat the adventurers had to stop, was an insane task.

A task that could only be accomplished by losing a significant number of people, yet which group of people would be lost, would it be the people that had died inside, while they themselves, may still be alive, in all manner of speaking, those peoples minds were gone now.

The likelihood that any of them would ever recover from what they had seen and gone thru was all but impossible.

Of course there was always the chance, that the adventurers would be willing to sacrifice some of their own, the actions of the adventurers in the past, certainly hinted that they would, but the truth was, why would they, no why should they, was a better form of the question.

These people, weren't anything to the adventurers and in fact, one would even go as far as today that there was no reason to keep them alive, but there was a reason to kill them.

Those people had brought the plague and the monsters with them and one could even say, that the adventurers were justified in sacrificing all of the people, just to save one of their own.

A scream soon reached Mordred's ears and as she turned to see what was happening, the lift of a torch burning to death several rats that had killed on top of a man could be seen, unfortunately, the man was dead now.

The rats had bitten thru an important vein and cut a hole try the man's neck, what Mordred had heard, was the man's last scream of life, as death took him.

"Many will die here" again the voice said and as the light of the moon began to show itself once more, the dark figure of a black dress began to make its presence known.

Slowly the form of a woman could be made out, only that when the light of the moon reached her head, everyone present knew, that wat the adventurers were fighting wasn't human at all.

She had a simple long black dress, pale bone white skin and her rat face had no hair whatsoever.

"Many will die here" the voice said once more, however, this time several adventurers had their heads turned towards its direction, all at once they lifted their hands and unleashed the firestones magic, bathing the unholy abomination in magical fire.

"Roor!" A scream from the distanced be heard as the stampeding forms of the monsters could be heard.

"Now!" A man's voice screamed from inside the cave, as several knights ran past the scouts and the cowering people, that stayed close to the fires, each one of the knights, swords, spears, axes, clubs and shields shined with a magical light as they met with the incoming horde.

However, they did not make it far, as the a bone white hand reached out from within the magical waves of fire and sent a wave of deranged rats after them. The wave of rodents met a wall of lanes from both sides, but the nights were now forced to fight from both ends.

Soon the approaching hoard of monsters met the knights and the battle began, however, just as the a knight was about to land the killing blow, a large group of rats would strike, forcing him or her, to deal with them, allowing the monster to gain its breath.

So far no adventure had lost their lives, but Arturia knew that it was only a matter of time, at least that what she thought before four figures sted into the battlefield, a man that wore a deep blue armor that covered him from head to toe, a woman that wore a short black dress, that nearly exposed her buttery should she move to quickly, a knight that carried a create white shield, while his own armor was red and a man that wore a gray armor that looked like it had been made from stone.

It was but an instant and had she been a lesser person, Arturia would have missed the worries movements. It may have only been an instant, but in that one instant, the four have completely whipped out the rat infestation and dealt with the lesser dangers of the monster threat.

It was a well-coordinated assault, the man in blue armor had effectively held the rats in place, while the woman in black sliced them to peace, as for the other two, they dealt with the weaker goblins and their mounts.

Now all that remained were the true threats, yet as the adventurers turned to deal with the witch, a familiar figure made its presence known.

It's was nothing more but a sorcerers garment, holding a scythe, in the time it took one to see the being, it cut off the rat with her head and placed it on the necklaces it wore around, it's none resistant neck.

The guardian banished after that and soon after the adventurers made quick work of the monsters and the infestation, at least what remained of it, yet as the sun rose, Arturia's eyes hardened, for what sat around the fire, weren't the bodies of a fearful people, but the decaying forms of the those that had been long dead.


	50. Chapter 50

The adventures walked around looking at the corpses and as Arturia watched, she realized that something clearly wasn't right.

"Take a look at the names of each monster" said the woman wearing the black dress and immediately each adventurer seemed to stare directly at whatever monster was closest to them.

"Their names changed, this thing just said goblin before. Now its name is undead goblin...what the hell is going on?" One of the many adventurers asked.

"Guess this is why they were so easy to kill, their bodies were already starting to get stuff" Klein said as he held the head of an ogre.

"Enough, burn everything, we can't have any of the monsters coming back to life when the sun goes down again" said the man wearing the red armor, carrying the create white shield.

The man turned to look at his companion the one who's armor seemed plain in comparison to the smoother more colorful ones, of the people around him.

"We're being watched" the man said as he looked into the distance.

"Another assassin?" The man in the red armor asked.

"No, there are hints of green light every time it moves. We moved half our defenses just to provide reinforcements we've been gone far too long." The man said, hinting out that he didn't like the situation at hand.

Slowly half the adventurers began to leave back into the cave, only the woman wearing the black dress remained behind, she followed the others and waved at them goodbye, as they teleported away.

Soon she was the only one standing in place, there was a long silence after that and Arturia began to feel the hairs of the back of her headstand.

"You stink of blood and hormones, there's no point in hiding, I can sense you and the dead rats at your feet give away your position, not to mention that even is you're invisible, the blood on your hands isn't" she said, as she drew her sword and pointed it directly at Mordred.

There was no point in hiding anymore and Mordred emerged from her hiding spot. "I am Mordred knight if Camelot and member of the round table, I was tasked to find out what you and those with you are doing so close to the kingdom." Mordred said and as Arturia listed to the young woman speak, she found herself wondering how she made her voice sound deep, like that of a mans.

The woman dressed in black lowered her sword and spoke. "Makes sense, we're after all, just a few steps away from your kingdom. Your welcome to stay here, but that cave and the bridge now belongs to us adventurers."

"So if you want to make sure nothing gets to your kingdom, I suggest you start setting up defenses on your end. This lot won't be here any longer, something was clearly targeting us and it wasn't the rat woman." She said.

"So you're going to leave this place undefended?" Mordred asked.

"No, your going to defend it in case something gets thru, killing things on this side will be seen as an act of aggression. Killing things on your side is self-defense, we're adventurers and we live to fight monsters, last night, something gave us an invitation to fight, I intend to accept and make sure it never forgets what it did." The woman said as she walked past Mordred.

Like it or not Mordred couldn't go beyond her location, she had to wait for reinforcements to arrive and as Arturia, watched what she was seeing, she could tell that even if it was only the corner of her eye, Mordred was watching that man gather his things, alongside his commands and leave as he walked away.

(Tywin Lannister )

The castle was unusually hot, to think that a simple change in the form that the fireplace had could make such a difference, granted that it wasn't the entire castle and it was in fact only a few rooms that both he and the servants used, but none the less, to think that such a change could be done in such a short amount of time.

"Boom, boom, boom" someone was knocking at the door to his study and as the door opened, Tywin was surprised to find two of his grandchildren at the door. Immediately Tywin knew something was wrong, for the two of them to be here, meant that they had to travel in freezing weather and at full speed, never slowing down.

The two trembled with cold, as they ran to the fireplace and tried to warn themselves, Tywin turned his head and immediately a knight acted with ought him having to say a word. The man immediately returned and handed to Tywin everything his own spies had been sending back to him.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong, just some overspending and opportunist that wanted things that were clearly too big for them and then he stopped. Tywin made sure to read the words over and over again, the information before and after seemed to support the claims.

Tywin rose from his seat and looked at his armor that hung nearby, war was not far now, the North had taken his dwarf of a son as a prisoner and from what another document said, Ned Stark had threatened his daughter.

There was a cup in the way and it seemed like the North had their eyes on the iron throne, no wonder his two youngest grandchildren were sent away, whatever deterrent his daughter must have use, must have been rather weak and would soon break.

This wasn't good, winter had come and fighting a war now was not something that didn't favor anyone.

"Prepare a carriage, I will be headed to the wall and speak to the strangers. Send word to house Tully, House Clegane and House Fray. Tell them to prepare should a war start, tell them that their selves and their sons will be needed."

"I will speak to the strangers." Tywin said before turning his head towards his grandchildren, "prepare warm food and drinks, make sure, my grandchildren are comfortable."


	51. Chapter 51

**Please remner that Aincrad is still a separate place from the rest of the Seven kingdoms. For them its still either living their lives or fighting to get to the last floor.**

 **So monsters and strange creatures are still going to show up from time to time.**

 **()()()(Rober Baratheon )**

Rober Baratheon watched the hooded figure, its dark cloak made him stand out amongst the white snow and green leaves of the forest. His guards were carefully keeping watch for any more surprises it had been at dawn that the figure loudly walked towards their campsite, only to stop when it was a few feet away.

The man just stood there watching them until the light of day fully chased the darkness of the night away.

Finally, after the scouts and trackers were certain that the black cloths figure was alone did any of them dare to walk towards him.

"Robert Baratheon I bring words from the task you have sought...It has failed" the hooded figure said as he threw a persons head onto the forest ground.

Robert just looked at the man's severed head before realizing that the Targaryen girl would be a lot harder to kill then he had expected. Snow began to fall around him slowly and the hairs on Roberts' head began to stand, his instincts warning him about an attack that would soon be coming.

The guards sensing this as well already had their swords drawn. "The bank wants it due, they know you can't pay and so another payment is needed" the hooded figure said before throwing its self at Rober and his guards.

Like a serpent the man moved killing the guards just by simply passing them, the scout's arrows seemed to slow down as they neared him and Robert watched his would be killer dodge every attack, all the while killing those that tried to protect him.

Soon Robert Baratheon stood alone, he wished he had his hammer with him, or by the very least his armor, but armor was too loud for a hunt, he hated the fact that they had chosen the perfect moment the moment when he would be at his weakest.

Still, he was a Baratheon and he would be dammed if some random person would have the luxury of finally putting him down.

Robert picked up a nearby sword that one of his guards once owned and let his instincts guide him, there was no need for thinking, no need for planning both men knew what this was and that only one would leave here alive.

Robert felt his blood pump and his very being rise and just like that it was over, his would-be killer fell dead, his last act was cutting Robert with a small dagger. Robert looked at the man's corps and knew that this was far from over.

The iron bank wanted its money and they would do anything to get it.

The feeling of weightlessness began to take over and Robert turned to look at his right hand, just above the elbow was the cut the man had planted and Rober cut deep into the arm hoping to at the very least force out some of the infected blood.

He had been poisoned and had to make it back to the castle, if he was going to die he had to give his last words. He walked back to kings landing and bleed the entire way, if the poison didn't get him the lack of blood would.

The guards finally laid eyes on him and quickly rushed him into the castle, already healers were there waiting to tend to his wounds, the last thing Rober was able to see was his old friend standing over him with a worried expression.

Then the world went dark, as the blood loss and exhaustion finally overwhelmed him.

 **(Ned Stark)**

The halls of the castle had become heavy and everyone from the lowest of servants to the members of the small council could feel it. The king still lived that much was certain, but what could they do?

They were aware of what had happened especially since scouts were sent to search for the place where the attack had taken place, but how did they stop something that they all knew needed to happen. The crown was heavily in debt, that much was certain, but so was everyone else and the time for them to pay was still far away.

The would-be killer had all the clothing and gear that a typical assassin of the Iron Bank, yet for all of his looks similarities, he failed to actually be one. No someone had set this up, someone that wanted something to happen or perhaps not happen.

The small council the most powerful men in all the seven kingdoms were quiet, they knew that if the king were to die or take a long sleep, then his firstborn would need to take the throne, it was at that moment the Ned felt his suspicion grow.

There was only one person that could gain anything by attacking the king and killing him, bud if his suspicions were true then how did the queen pull this off in such short notice.

Unless she was already planning to kill the king.

"His Majesty has awakened and is asking for his hand to be present!" A healer said as he ran into the council room, by the way he acted time was short, Ned knew what he had to do, before it was too late.

"Don't for the good of everyone don't do it Stark" Peter Baelish said to him. "Don't do it or else everything that happens after this will be on your head" the kings' coin said to him, but Ned just ignored the man, he knew what he had to do.

He couldn't just let a bastard take the throne, it was one thing if the boy was Roberts son, but from what Ned knew Robert wasn't his father and so his claim to the throne was invalid.

His footsteps seemed to echo through the halls, this was odd considering that that only happens when the halls were empty and yet there were people everywhere, some were here just to look and have something to gossip about later, others to guard the king and those that were left were either to heal the man or write down his lasts words.

Ned could feel his heartbeat change as he passed the queen who was standing by the door, too far for the king to be able to see her from the bed be laid on, yet close enough to be able to hear everything that was being said inside the room.

"Ned... Ned...I got to fight one last time Ned...I should have worn armor" Robert said as he tried to force moister to his mouth and every pause was an attempt to breathe.

"I need to tell you something" Ned said to his old friend, knowing that he would be taking from him one of the only few moments he would ever have of making peace.

"I know... that you want to leave...Ned...Write...This down..." Robert said to him, ignoring the fact that scrives were nearby.

"I..Robert Baratheon...leave...as...new King...my son..." Ned watched his old friends sleeping form, he hadn't died, but gone into a deep sleep.

The scribes handed him the kings last words and ned felt his heart speed up as he laid eyes on the queens smiling face.

"This shouldn't have happened" Ned thought to himself and as if something had taken possession of him, he walked out the door with the parchment in his hands, by the time he managed to reach the small council, they already had a copy of it.

The look in each mans eyes was different, yet they all shared a single common look amongst them when their eyes met with his own.

Pity

Quickly the sun began to set and Ned could only see snow falling as the last rays of light seemed to leave the Red Keep. His only release was that at least he had sent back his youngest daughter and that his old friend could wake up one day and change everything.

After a few minutes, the only one to speak was the master of whispers. "A warning for when he wakes up. Only tell him what you know, when you already have a replacement available because if you don't the consequences will be high."

The fat man looked at Ned like if he was suggesting something Ned had ignored, unable to bear the looks anymore Ned went back to his study and began to look through every book in there, the copies of everything the other members of the small council had and by the time he finished Ned wished he hadn't bothered looking.

It wasn't just the Iron Bank, but Kings Landing kwed a lot of money to the Lannisters and it was their gold that had been paying for what was being spent before, the Kings Coin had begun to borrow from overseas.

Had he gone through his plan all the Lannisters had to do was call in the dept, but at the same time knowing his old friend, he would have responded with something like.

"Dead people don't need gold"


	52. Chapter 52

**(Peter Baelish)**

The sound of a pen scratching on parchment as a man wrote down the week's expenses and earnings were the only sounds heard within the study, Peter Baelish the Kings Coin or Coin of the King did his work, but his mind was elsewhere.

Too many things were happening all at once and yet they all seemed to be connected, if one ignored the strangers then almost every sign pointed to someone in the background wanting the houses to fight amongst themselves.

He knew this because he had planned something similar, but someone else had their hands dipped in the events that had occurred so far.

He stopped writing and tried to see any possible strings that he might have missed, a clue somewhere and yet try as he might he failed to find any hint of who the culprit or culprits nights be.

From what he gathered Cersei Baratheon the Queen had managed to get the imp of her brother set free by the north, by having the youngest daughter Stark girl handed to them, it wasn't an act of love or anything like it, no, the woman just didn't want a Lannister to live within the walls of the North.

Little finger as many referred to him as smiled to himself, at first the woman wanted the north under her control, now she completely rejected it. If the woman ever truly gained any real power then she would no doubt cause endless wars.

The room was getting colder, soon he would be forced to do his work in another room, there was indeed a fireplace inside his study, but having a fire inside a room filled with important documents was something only a fool would do.

Unlike everyone else seated in the small council, he had earned his place, by hard work and outsmarting e around everyone around him, those men seated with him either had someone with a position of power give them their seats, or they had gained them simply because they were born into a powerful family.

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching reached his ears and he already suspected who it was, Ned Stark must have already discovered all of the meaningless spending and who the crown owed money to.

The moment the door slammed open he was prepared to avoid any attack the foolish man would do and yet again he predicted Ned Stark's move.

Ned grave him by his neck collar and somehow managed to lift him from his seat, however, this time the man had overstepped and he found himself having to release him as the guard drew their swords and pointed them at his bead.

"You forget that we're both important and you can't just attack me" he said to Ned Stark who just looked at him with eyes filled with rage.

Slowly then backed away not wanting to give the guard any more reasons to kill him.

"Tell me why the crown owes so much to the Lannister" Ned Stark demanded.

He smiled at this, it was so simple and the man couldn't even see it. "Did you forget his wife is a Lannister, since the first day that the gold began to run out, they had begun to lay for everything."

"Look around you, plenty of guards, servants and so on are paid in coppers that come from Lannister bolts. Who do you think paid for the kings whoring drinking and all of those parties he liked to enjoy."

"Money runs out Stark" He answered he would be killer and looked in satisfaction as the man understood that his old friend would have cared less about the consequences of his actions.

Little Finger decided to play his hand and see where the next peace fell, he may have not known all of the game pieces but at least he knew how to play the game, it was snowing and with a few days- nights or both it would soon be nearly impossible to contact the north, so why not case something's to happen.

"You're worried about the boy taking the throne, the kings alive Ned, you know the meaning of that, until the king dies, the boy becomes of age or if they were both to die, then you would be the one to lay claim to the throne until the kings brother arrives to release you of it." He said to Ned and watched as relief passed over the foolish man's eyes.

Ned Stark didn't say anything after that he just left, Peter just looked at the door after that and smiled Ne d Stark was a good man, an honorable man, but honor is something held in the point of view of the person that holds it.

Is it not honorable to save the lives of the kings family? but what if letting his family live plunges the kingdom into a hopeless war.

Is it not honorable to keep your word? But what if that word means you have to step aside and let innocent people die simply because that knew too much.

To put the kings eldest son was a grave error, the boy was a rabid dog on held by a few chains that could easily be broken, but he could be dealt with, by poison or an arrow that was misfired.

Ned Stark was an honorable man and it was his own personal point of view that will get him killed, if not by the Lannisters then by someone else.

For a brief moment, Peter touched the scar on his chest, a reminder of the time when he was powerless to do anything. The woman that married Ned was someone he loved, yet because he was someone thought a high position in life, he was found unworthy of being with her.

He tried to fight for her hand in marriage, back then she was to marry Ned Starks older brother and her what did that man do.

He took the black and headed to the wall in order to do the long watch and his love was passed down to the Ned Stark.

Peter learned his lesson back then, there is no such thing as honor, just conveniences, this was fine set in stone when Roberts Rebellion occurred, Ned Stark's own sister was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of men.

How many women and girls were raped either by the northern men or by the southern men. How many villages were stripped of their food and so on the list went, just because that stupid girl couldn't keep her legs closed.

Peter closed his eyes and Little Finger opened them, it was time to look in the direction of the south, it would only get colder from now on and anything that happened in the north was now something that could only be dealt with in the long run.

Whatever happens needed to be dealt with, that much was certain, but it was better to deal with things that were close by and request immediate attention, less than become even bigger problems later.


	53. Chapter 53

The sound of embers cracking as the fire burned keeping the cold away, Little Finger looked through each parchment he made sure to keep any loose ends carefully hidden, for every ten coppers spent, he would make sure that at least one went to his pocket.

He stopped writing for a moment and looked towards the dagger his spy managed to retrieve for him, how the man had managed to get it back to him so quickly he didn't know, it was something he would have to learn.

To be able to move from the south to the north and back in only a few days was something he could use.

He lifted the knife and held it, Ned Stark hadn't done anything yesterday he had just gone back to his study, most likely to plan things out and to cover his vases, unfortunately for him, it was already too late.

As Little could see, only a few moves could be done, kill the queen and her firstborn, then deal with the king's anger if he ever woken up, send the two away in order to keep them from causing any problems and putting his own guards to secure the kings' safety.

The last one was something Little Finger didn't believe Ned Stark was even capable of coming up with himself, kill the queen, her son and by the hand of fate the king does in his sleep, this not only opened up room for someone better suited for the throne, but also removed any further threats that may come in the future.

He began to spin the small dagger/knife on his table, it was a wonder that the thing never seemed to lose its sharp edge, he was aware that someone had given a foolish man his knife and ordered the man to kill the second youngest Stak.

But that was the thing a Valerian knife was equally or even more rare than a Valerian sword and those things only existed here and there, so it was easy to assume that the imp has sent the assassin.

But one just had to look deeper and he would understand that, this assumption was wrong, first the knife itself was too carefully crafted for just anyone to own, that alone dismissed everyone below a certain class.

The fact that the knife was an incredibly rare one, dismissed any of the lower houses, so that only left one of the main houses. Yet the main houses hire assassins that already have their own weapons and tools, so why was someone without any training using this thing.

The only conclusion Little Finger could come to was either one of two things, someone wanted to cause problems between the south and the north, or some fool overstepped their boundaries and did something stupid, both possibility's were equally acceptable at the moment.

Whatever they had planned was stopped for two reasons, one winter could last for more than a year at times and there was no way of knowing how long this one would last, so starting any wars right now was foolish, for one the men would all freeze to death and there would be no way of feeding any of them.

The second was far more complicated, right now everyone in the north was gathered and that meant that entire armies were either spending the winter in one castle or another, or they were somewhere the cold wouldn't kill them, whichever was the case, the armies of the north and their commoners were right now at their strongest, at least defensively speaking.

Yet Little Fingers eyes stopped looking at his knife and instead looked at the parchments in front of him, things weren't making much sense, for example the Lannisters were paying their tax on time but somehow had begun to pay the Iron Bank at the same time and from what his informants had to him, it was no small amount that they were paying.

The interests really did a number on those that lacked the means of paying back their debts, Little Finger knew that the Lannister gold had begun to run out, it was one of the reasons he allowed them to pay for Robert Baratheon's spending.

He knew that the Red Keep would never be able to pay back that amount, at least not while the king ruled.

Yet somehow Tywin Lannister had secured the funds to pay off what he owed the Iron Bank, each document was had something written or in writing that needed to be found by him and from Little Finger could see was a pattern.

Somehow someway Tywin Lannister had succeeded in making the strangers pay an absurd amount for one thing or another and they like fools did so, perhaps it wasn't just overcharging either. From what he could see, while everyone else tried to save whatever harvest they could or bought from the Martells as much as they could.

Tywin himself hadn't, in fact, something else had happened, he had made sure to only buy certain things wheat, oils and things used by those that live near areas with lost of plants and insects, there were far too many to list but they were all used to keep pests away from the food supply.

The sound of marching boots reached his ears and Little Finger decided he could use a break, might as well see what the Stark had decided to do.

He placed the knife on the table and was about to walk out the door only to stop and take everything back to the main room for safekeeping, the number of people that would want their hand on those documents was rather large after all and anything copied down before he was finished with them could prove disastrous for him, for one reason or another.

He walked out of his study and followed the sounds of people arguing, he stopped for a brief moment and looked directly a young face. Sansa Stark was the very image of her mother, red hair and all, perhaps one day he would enjoy the girl, whether that was willingly or not depend if she was offered to him.

She would have no say in the matter after all and even if she wasn't, well who cared about that, whores show up and vanish all the time.

"What's going on?" He asked the girl, her eyes were filled with fear and she didn't even try to look at him.

"My father is doing something crazy" she answered him.

Little Finger let his smile show, he already knew the personality of the girl in front of him, she had grown up believing that knights were heroes that rescued the princess and that there was a happily ever after.

The reality of the world would break her from that.

One by one the knights guarding the king walked out and soon all of the guards standing ready to fight began to leave, Little Finger walked up to the door to the king's room and immediately understood what Ned Stark had chosen to do.

Men of the north stood guard around the kings sleeping form and when Ned Stark laid eyes upon him he didn't even bother to hear him speak.

"Come with me" Ned Stark ordered him, as he headed towards the dining room, it was there that they found the Queen and her son eating a carefully prepared meal.

Little Finger watched as The Hand of the King sealed his own fate. Ned Stark took a deep breath and began.

"For your immediate protection, I'm having you and your son escorted out of Kings Landing and back Casterdy Rock."

"We haven't found who friend do have the king killed and if they were able to reach this close to the and attempt to kill him, then it's only safe to assume that they have already infiltrated"

Little Finger watched as the rest of the small council began to walk in, followed by several guards, it would be at this moment that either the guards and the small council killed Ned Stark for treason or they took the chance to stop someone who should never sit on the Iron Throne from ever managing to do so.

The guards were about to draw their swords, only for the small council to stop them, they simply lowered their hands ordering the men to stand down.

Both the queen and her son were about to argue, but it was her brother a member of the Kings Guard, that prevented them from doing so. None of them said anything and instead of going to their rooms to pack their things, they were instead led to several carriage's already waiting for them.

"So this was the reason why Stark hadn't said anything since yesterday, he was secretly parking their things up" Little Finger thought to himself.

The only who's things weren't packed was the queen's brother, but he was someone that expected to stay behind and yet the man called for a horse in order to escort both his sister and his nephew to safety.

Before he left he ordered a servant to fetch a bag from his room and when the servant returned, the man handed the girl a gold coin. Members of the Kings guard were allowed to have whatever they wanted, but in the end, they usually got rid of everything and only had a bed and clothes in their rooms.

After a while, the minimalist lifestyle was something they would grow to prefer, so all of their spare funds were ideally kept in their rooms, they had more, of course, bet this was what they were given just to spend on random things.

"Bad move Stark" Little Finger said as he looked at the carriage slowly leaving the Red Keep "Once they reach a good distance either kill them or make sure to knock them out and put them on a ship going somewhere far away" he thought to himself.

The castle was uneasily quiet after that and everyone walked as if they were to step on a thorn at any moment, as the sun went down Little Finger could hear the wind blowing with such strength that it could freeze the bones of a man or beast.

Little Finger closed his eyes and Peter opened his, in an attempt to relax, soon Peter would have to close his eyes for a long time and Little Finger would have to be the only one awake if wanted to live past what was to come.

 **(Tywin Lannister)**


	54. Chapter 54

"Ting...ting...ting" the sound of the sword hitting the stone beneath it, its sheath was firm enough to keep the sword itself from hitting the stone floor, but it was thin enough for the metal of the sword to react each time it went down and struck the stone floor.

"Ting...ting...ting" Tywin listened to the sound and allowed his mind to wonder, each impact made his mind shift from one thought to another, in one move the entire field had changed, even now the rivers had become almost completely useless.

Ice was forming on the waters quickly, soon it would be too large boats to move in, but too thin for people to walk on, depending on how long winter lasted this time, the people would at some point begin to eat the animals that froze to death.

Even now despite the heat of the fire, the cold temperature was filtering through Casterly Rock. "Ping" he remembered his wife and children, for a brief moment he smiled back then the world seemed to have some warmth even for him.

"Ping" he thought about the strangers and how he could manipulate them into his favor.

"Ping" Tywin felt his eyes harden as the memory of Roberts Rebellion rushed in, like a stamped of vermin that refused to die away.

His mind shifted towards every road-town- village, minor and major house that stood in his way or by the very least had the potential of standing in his way. The fire in the room made the burning wood crack each time the wind blew into the chimney, he was alone now, free to let his mind wander and plan.

Then all of a sudden the darkroom he sat in, next to the fire that was his only light was changed in an instant, the door of the room slammed open violently and Marcella along with her brother Tommen broke the silence of the room.

Despite both of their ages, they chased each other around all the while laughing, Tywin closed his eyes and let this moment set itself into his memory, the many books-scrows and so on that were kept on his walls were now visually because of the light that came by the open door.

He felt himself begin to smile again as he listened to their voices of joy, his back was turned to them at the moment and his grand chair made it impossible for anyone to see if someone was seated on it, the coves below certainly helped in that matter, it was because of those pieces of cloth that no one behind him could see his feet.

For the brief moment that the two played in this room, he allowed his mind to stop and enjoy the right here and right now. He smiled at the sound of their feet moving like horses galloping, their voices showed no hint of the fear they had when they first arrived. He was pleased with that.

He could hear them running away and their footsteps leaving until they were completely gone and again he found himself alone, there was light inside the room now, they had forgotten to close the door, yet Tywin didn't seem to care at the moment.

He looked at the fire and noticed he didn't feel the cold anymore, nothing had changed yet the world didn't seem as harsh as he remembered it.

"Ping" the sword hit the stone one last time and Tywin rose to his feet, despite being an old man and despite having the light from outside shine into the room, his shadow seemed to belong to that of a giant.

Perhaps it was the light of the fire behind him, but Tywin would have sworn he saw his own shadow like that of a lion, but that was impossible because he just blinked and it was the shadow of an old man.

He began to walk leaving the room behind and tried to clear his mind, two nights of winter storms made it impossible to travel, unless there was somewhere a person could find shelter, only a fool would risk a long distance journey.

It was that very reason that he hadn't gone to see the strangers or sent any messengers at the moment, yet perhaps he was thinking things in the wring matter, perhaps it should be one of them that should visit him.

Winter tended to last several months and even a year if things went bad, there was even a story that his own father told him about how there had been a winter that lasted more than two years, all of this meant that there was plenty of time to form good relations.

As things stood he indeed had three ways to go, further inland, go north or head south, but for now that needed to wait, no matter what happened right now he couldn't afford to attack anyone and he knew that no one else could attack him at the moment, that much was certain.

No, right now was the time to wait and see, judging from the past it would be at least a few weeks before the weather settled.

For the moment being, the players had to move their first piece.

A servant ran in front of him heading towards the door of his castle, then another and another each one was carrying blankets and what looked like pots hot water, by the time he reached the end of the hallway there was a large group of servants gathered around two people.

The moment a maid moved Tywin felt rage grow within him, but it was only his years of experience that allowed him to keep it under control.

There standing at the entrance of the door was his daughter, her oldest son and his son drinking hot water, covered in blankets placing their hands and feet into pots filled with hot water.

"Make sure the other two don't see any of this" He said to a maid that was passing by him, the woman looked at him with a frightened expression before her eyes settled and she turned and ran in the opposite direction.

"There was no point in worrying children" Tywin thought to himself, before pausing and forcing himself to change his train of thought.

"No, they weren't children anymore. Despite the way they may have acted, both were at marriable age and like it or not, one could get pregnant and the other could impregnate"

Tywin would never know it, but the servants that knew him for years could see the pain in his eyes, despite being busy attending to his already fully grown son and daughter, they knew that Tywin was forcing himself to think like a lord, rather than a person.

There was nothing they could do for him, not unless they were alone.

The wind outside began to blow again, another storm was coming, yet before the servants could close the door another person managed to walk in. Tywin felt his eyes harden, it was the imp of his youngest son, dressed in the clothing of those from the north.

The first piece had been moved and it had almost been lethal, in a single move three members of his house would have been killed, the person responsible would have just said that it was rhe weathers fault and not their own.

Sadly for them, his children had lived and Tywin found himself holding onto three of his pawns.


	55. Chapter 55

The light of day began to flee from the cold winter weather, the thick clouds were like a wall that separated the day from the night, the only light now was that that of the many fires inside the castle, there was barely any warmth now, no light anywhere, not beyond the fires.

It had been two maybe three years of spring and summer, that meant that by the very least they would have to worry about three or four years of winter, that wasn't good, for anyone, if the cold didn't kill people the lack of food wood.

The lack of money would, like it or not people no matter how important they may be either are preparing themselves to buy whatever they may need, be it food-clothing or a place to live.

Luckily he had managed to move around that for the moment, the money he owed the Iron Bank wasn't too large, neither was the interest, the only reason he had even paid them at the moment was both to get that headache out of the way and to eliminate any form of excuse the Iron Bank might have to try and kill him.

Tywin watched the snow fall outside through one of the castles many windows, there was no light outside, at least not from anything wasn't from a fire from one house or a barn, that was being used to keep people and animals warm.

The servants had stopped running around, they had prepared a hot bath for his son, daughter and grandson, the water was bordering on the line of boiling, there was nothing the healers could do for them, they had to fight off any illness now.

Tywin didn't a low himself to feel anything, why would he, right now it was up to them to fight to live and if they lost then that can't they didn't want to live anymore.

Soon he would have to start contacting the minor houses and see what supplies they had managed to save, but this point there was hardly if anything at all that could be saved, whatever was left on the fields was now lost.

That was at least one harvest lost, when the weather calmed both his men, the lower houses and the little people would have to no one together to find everything that has frozen to death, the meat would still be good, at least some of it. The animal's fur, fat and whatever else could be salvaged would be used to keep the people alive.

The sound of someone coughing reached his ears. "Good, that means you want to live" Tywin though to himself, knowing that at least those three didn't just close their eyes and die.

"Father" Tywin heard the voice of the imp behind him.

"Explain" was the only thing he said to his mistake, he never turned to look at the man that never grew in size.

"The north captured me thinking that I had tried to kill the second youngest of the Starks, they only released me when the youngest daughter returned to them. However, on my way to Kings Landing instead of heading there I was instead escorted to your lands." His son said to him everything he knew.

"I see" Tywin said as he gained an image of what might have happened, no spies could move right now, so the only information he had at the moment, was what his children had

"What do you think?" Tyson asked his son.

"What do I think" Tyrion related as if not be living what he had just heard, he stopped for a moment and quickly began to speak again knowing how his father hated hesitation.

"I believe the new had has overstepped his place, Robert would have killed my sister and her children and my brother would have stepped in to stop him. Everyone else would have done things more discreetly and made sure to cover their ground as to avoid suspicion."

Tywin let the imps words set in, right now he had no place to be a father, right now he was the Lord of Casterly Rock and as such he didn't have the luxury of thinking like a father. He turned to look at the boy, now a man, who he had failed miserably.

"When the storm ends, head towards the mountain and had this letter to the people on the wall, take any servant that knows what mountain I'm referring to and wait for the people's answer" he said to his son.

As a boy, the man wanted to see dragons, now he would get the chance to do so. The letter's contents were simple but effective, it was a simple invitation for certain individuals to come and live for sometime with him and his granddaughter.

The girl being who she has hardly had the chance to unwind and make friends, yet for some reason the time spent with a certain girl seemed to have affected her greatly and so he Tywin was hoping that the girl and some other people would take his offer to accompany his granddaughter for a little while.

It was a thin lie one that could easily be dismissed and even if it was, politically speaking if the strangers selected it, it would be of poor relations for them. Yet again what did they have to gain by pleasing outsiders anyway?

Tyrion took the letter and looked at him, Tywin hardened his heart, his biggest mistake was the son he failed, all the boy's life he was forced to be a lord instead of a father and so the boy's life was harsh, yet the man learned to use the harsh upbringing and build himself up from it.

The boy would try to make his stay on the wall last to the point he outstayed his welcome, just trying to get a glimpse of the strange creatures on the side of the island. The man would try to get the people on the other side, to do certain things that benefited him or his house in the long run.

The wind began to slow down finally, the sun had begun to come out, Tywin turned around and looked out the window, his face showed no expression whatsoever, not even the smallest one the servants used to know how he felt.

The land below has changed, despite him seeing the green plants, grass and stones below just the day before none of that was left, only a blanket of white snow remained.

"Father" Tyrion said behind him.

"What is it?" Tyson asked his son.

"I was told to deliver this message to the king, if from those that keep watch up north. They need more recruits, they say that those beyond the wall are headed south and that there are strange things that move in the cold." Tyrion passed down the message to him.

Tywin just looked at his son "...In the past I would have considered this as nothing more than the words of fools. Now, I know I would have been wrong, there's a chance that the ancient enemy is returning, but at the same time someone sits upon a throne that does not belong to him" Tywin said to Tyrion.

"Father?" Tyrion asked not understanding what the old man in front of him was saying, the expression he had made this abundantly clear.

"It's better if you see it with your own eyes" Tywin said to his son before pointing at the door telling him that his time with him was over.

Tywin let his mind wander again, another piece of the puzzle had just been given to him, a broken piece, but a piece none the less. What would the north do when they heard that the Stark was now acting as king, while Robert Baratheon slept.

What would Stannis Baratheon the king's brother do when the news reached him?

Then there was the way that those in the east were acting, it wasn't strange by any form of the matter, yet at the same time, it seems like the way things were being done wasn't planned like if things were being performed in a reckless manner.

It seems like the strangers would have to leave their little island soon enough, if what the imp had just told him was true that the ancient enemy of man was moving once again.

Right now all of that was for later, first thing was first keeping everyone alive, no messengers could travel any significant distance, so everyone was now isolated at the moment and so relations had to strengthened.


	56. Chapter 56

What makes a man, a man? What separates him, from the boys and fools, was it power?

No, it couldn't possibly be that women have power over men all that they had to do was spread their legs and they could rule an entire kingdom. Yet the moment that same man found a younger more pleasing woman her power would disappear.

Perhaps it was when he gained the understanding of humility?

No, how many men of high birth had stood amongst those they ruled over only to be killed by those very same people, while many would have been pleased with the way he did things, the filth would always cause trouble and as such it was them that ushered in the tyrant, the man that didn't have any humility at all and the one that would have the filths severed head on spikes as a reminder to everyone that tried to cross him.

Tywin sat amongst the heads of the lower house, he had chosen a nearby section between all of their lands to call forth a meeting one that would be both kept secret an entirely open for even simple commoners to listen to.

Had he been younger and less experienced he would have allowed himself to smile, each head wore a garment made from one strange beast or another and somehow acted as if the cold weather around them was none existent.

Had he been younger and less experienced, he would have allowed his eyes to wander towards the socs on the men's feet or the furs that they wore over their bodies, had he been younger he would have gloated about how it was only because of him that any of them had gained any of it.

Yet he wasn't and so he didn't.

Each man held a hot drink and hot plate of food as he spoke to those around him, Tywin watched every mans movement and noticed that if the men didn't stiffen or react in one way or another, either their guard or the person next to them would. Already the wors of war were being spoken amongst those present.

Behind every smile and bite of meat, behind every drunken mouth full of hot water, wine, juice or whatever, there was the hint of fear and uneasiness, each man present knew that the food was scarce now and that if they didn't eat their fill, they would most likely regret it later.

"Good, let the fear set in and let the desperation pass until they have no other choice but to calm down and gather their thoughts'' Tywin thought to himself as he took his bite of food.

Once in a while, the men would turn their heads and smile towards him and he, in turn, would keep a hard expression only to soften it when their eyes met.

The men talked about their families, the lost livestock, the fears of those that they ruled over for how they would survive the winter and so on, that was until the conversation began to die down. where exactly could they all gain large amounts of food and warm cloathing?

Right now as things stood ships would be unable to move because of the rapidly forming ice in the sea and so importing things from the east was either out of the question or would be so slow that by the time the stuff they paid for arrived they would all have died long before the first box was lowered on to the port.

Perhaps they could purchase as much as possible from the Tyrells, yet for how long that was an option no one knows, right now everyone was turning their eyes towards the bread basket of Westeros and that meant that soon enough they too would be running out of merchandise, or they would soon be selling it at an exaggerated amount.

''Then the answer is obvious, we simply buy as much as possible and when the warehouses begin to run dry we sell what we can to those around us.'' Tywin said to the various minor lords.

Every man present stayed quiet as they digested both the food and his words.

''What would be stopping them from invading us?'' asked one of the minor houses, the man held such a small position that Tywin didn't even bother remembering the man's name.

That would change soon enough, the man was foolish enough to question him, yet brave enough to point out an obvious flaw within his admittedly simple plan.

''Desperate people do desperate things'' Tywin silently reminded himself.

''Simple only well-fed men can fight and starving masses are only good in numbers. By the time anyone makes any significant distance for an invasion, both the men, animals, armor and weapons, will have been frozen by the cold, or sic, because of it''

Again everyone fell silent and soon one more minor house spoke again. ''Well my lord, with your permission, we do know of one other place we all can continue to gain food from. It's the same place no one else can get to, without crossing through your lands sir''

Tywin watched the small house speak, the man had a point but he was already too dependent o the strangers, yet he had to admit their lands were something to be considered.

Tywin allowed his expression to soften and the man leat a wide smile of relief show on his face.

''Everyone eat, it will soon be dark'' Tywin said to everyone present, this included both the families and the servants of each of the minor and small houses.

Instantly servants opened large pots that had been cooking long since the meeting had begun. there wasn't kindness behind his actions, nor was there cruelty either. Tywin was feeding everyone simply to strengthen relations so that no one would so much as think of betraying him.

Few men can consider how much small acts shape peoples thought of him and even fewer can comprehend that with grand displays, men often end up being alienated by those they are trying to help.

Soon someone or something would start things and the war would begin, but for the moment being it would not be him or anyone around him.

Tywin was well aware of this and so he continued to put every piece of the puzzle in the spot it was meant to be in, so when it was his turn to move, he would do it in such a way, his opponents would believe they had lost long before they have started attacking him.


	57. Chapter 57

[Two months later]

The sound of crunching snow being ground underneath the hooves of horses and the wheels of wagons, he had wanted to send Tyrion to the strangers long ago, but other matters needed to be done long before that could happen.

Primarily what was going on in the land far away on the other side of the sea, Tywin hated having to act this way but these were strange times so who could fault him for acting in a way he normally wouldn't have.

So he put the dwarf and everyone that could be of any use to work, and to his surprise, they brought some acceptable results. Several houses were heavily in debt, large sums of gold were owed to the Iron Bank and by the banks' action, it had already demanded payment.

It was a simple matter of dangling false hopes in front of them, House Lannister would pay off their debts, however, daughters and sons would be handed over as collateral, at least until their houses could pay, and it wasn't just one or two, no. they would have to hand them all over.

They reluctantly accepted.

Those that could pay back their debt to House Lannister, handed over their heirs and daughters with defiant looks, while those that couldn't knew that their daughters would be made into whores, wed to some lowly peasant or useless house.

To pay for all of this Tywin was forced to dig into what gold his house still owned and to what he was getting from the strangers, none of this was out of the ordinary and in fact, several lords had done this same act long before him.

No, his one-act was asking for a loan from the strangers, promising to pay up within the year, like fools they agreed, saying that they had seen how he had helped everyone, so they wouldn't charge interest and now the lines are set.

The sound of armored boots rapidly approaching reach the outside of his study and with little warning, the doors open, the man on the other side stood tall over his guards, as well as Tywins.

"You know why I'm here hand over what you ow." The man demanded

Tywin just looked at him before slightly moving his head, The man followed the inclination of Tywin's neck and found several chests filled with gold and silver already waiting for him.

He turned to look at Tywin and his guards began to carry away the chests filled with the precious metals, however, he kept his eyes locked on Tywin who inturn just looked at him before reaching into his shirt and bringing out a key.

The wan swallowed hard, knowing full well that the life of his loved ones and his own was now hanging by a thread.

"A month and several days ago, someone tried to kill me. They wore your paid snakes clothing, another tried to kill the king." It was more of a demand rather than a statement of a question.

"Kill me and" The man began only for Tywin to raise his hand.

"The bank will do nothing, all that matters s for the payment to arrive, now answer."

The man began to step back but the feeling of a guards hand on his shoulder told him there was no escape.

"As far as I know, the faceless men aren't sent out, at least until after someone refuses to pay." The man answered, his voice only growing with the feeling of fear.

Tywin just looked at the man, who was on the burg of pissing himself. "Let him go, and if you ever walk back here with such a high and mighty attitude, ever again...'Tywin didn't bother finishing his words, his intentions were heard all too clearly by the swine that fled, before his eyes.

No one likes to lose an investment of that he is certain, now the strangers have a reason to keep house Lannister alive, even if its joust in name and as things are, those that ow his house have begun to purchase from the supplies the strangers have sent in.

Food, money, soldiers and trust/resentment, now it was time to see what were the consequences of his actions.

[Change Ned Stark]

Snow began to fall once again, he waited for word to reach, no better to say he was waiting for word from the north to reach him, the men of the north would soon have to march south.

Tywin Lannister was on the move and had succeeded in turning many of the houses to his side, somehow that man had paid off their debts and began to resupply the much-needed storages of food, considering that the sudden snowfall had ruined most of the crops.

Those things alone were worrying, how the man had done that in a month, was nothing short of a miracle.

Soon it would be time to march, with or without the men of the north.


	58. Chapter 58

The snow fell quietly they were almost like dandelion seeds drifting aimlessly in the wind.

"Observing a familiar sight" The sound of Little Fingers voice reached his ears.

Ned didn't bother turning to look at him, no he just continued to look at the snow.

"I've finished the investigation you asked for and I know why the Iron Bank didn't demand their payment immediately. The Lannisters have paid most if not all of many houses debts, they took their children as collateral." Little Finger told him, however, Ned didn't react, he just listened, knowing that the man next to him still had things to say.

"You're not going to like what I have to say, but for you, to understand Ill have to jump from to place to place."

"Do you remember the stories of your childhood, the ones we all share, from nobles to little people... When the First Men arrived, they fought with the Children, when the Andals invaded they fought the First Men, when the White Walkers came, they fought both the Men and the Children of the Forest."

"When the Targaryen's came they fought those that were left after the Long Night and now we have a new batch of strangers that have arrived, except they don't want anything to do with us." Little Finger said to Ned.

Ned felt himself shift as he heard the man's tell his story and not explain why this had to do anything with the Iron Bank.

Little Finger noticed his weight shifting and seemed to almost enjoy his ever-growing frustration.

"Ned Stark Kinng of The Seven Kingdoms, doesn't understand what's right in front of him." Little Fingers words were filled with mockery, yet the man continued to talk.

"You can see the wheel turn, each time someone new arrives, they fight with those that were there before and the winner takes all, only that this time the new arrivals refuse to set foot on Westeros."

Ned finally had enough and spoke what he had to say. "The King lies unconscious do to an attack from some cowardly assassin." Ned said before Little Fingers smile grew.

"And because of that the Hand of The King has taken the throne, he's chased off the Queen and her children, not to mention that his Daughter was once Engaged to the Prince."

"Any onlooker will say that the one that had the most to gain in all of this was you." Little Finger said as the realization began to set in Ned.

"I've done nothing wrong, all that are here can attest to that." He tried to defend himself.

"Can they? a member of the Kings Guards was Sent Away, because of you. Anyone that sees this would be you getting rid of the witnesses without killing them, especially because of that weather that occurred the same day they left." Little Finger easily dismissed his attempts to defend himself.

"Enough of this tell me what I have to know." Ned ordered Little Finger who just shook his head, his arrogant smile was still present.

"Why it's simple, by taking the heirs of all of those houses Tywin Lannister has assured their alliance during the war that will come, and it will come Stark you know that as well as I do."

"Yet what of the strangers, how would they react when their closest neighbors are being attacked and losing people?"

"How will they react to losing any way of ever being repaid for that huge loan they gave the Lannisters?"

"Why would Tywin pt his own house in debt. The answer is at the start of our conversation, he knows that when the strangers enter Westeros and they will, things will change and he wants to secure the existence of his house." Little Finger finished explaining to Ned.

Ned didn't say anything all he could do is put everything together, still, despite things appearing grim they weren't completely lost. The Lannisters army was still small compared to his own and if the Northern Lands entered the war, victory would be certain.

The sound of running reached Ned's ears and a boy handed him a letter, it had the insignia of Ned House and as he opened it Ned smiled, the North would soon be marching south and when it arrived the Lannisters and their allies would be no more.

"If you excuse me" Little Finger said as he turned around and walked away his mocking smile turning slightly predatory, from the corner of his eye he noticed the boy leaving the hands side and he quietly let out a silent laugh.

[Change]

The escort marched down, they didn't bother hiding, not this time, with her marched some but not all of the most capable and powerful knights and soldiers of all the kingdoms.

They had passed several Adeventurer controlled lands, yet none had so much as bothered to hinder them, yet none had bothered to so much as offer a simple cup of water to her men.

Finally, their destination was in sight, a city on the lowest floor guarded by giants made of magical stone, no doubt capable of their own movement should the city be attacked.

The walls themselves looked like a mixture of magic stone, crystals and a kind of material she couldn't quite point out.

The doors to the city opened and a single knight wearing green armored walked out.

"We've been expecting you, please leave your horses out here." the knight said as he waited for her and the mounted cavalry to dismount their horses.

They soon followed the knight into the city, the men that had marched at their side were called to enter aswell, this alone was troubling.

The only reason anyone would allow this to happen, was simply because this was a trap or the adventurers were so confident in their victory tat they hardly saw them as a threat.

If it was the either she would make certain that they would regret their decision, still it was hard to believe what she was seeing.

The people were plump, not overweight, but none of them looked like if food or clothing was anything to fear of not having, the people wore smiles on their faces that were not forced and yet these were the same people that were inva...

These were the ones that were counter-attacking those from beyond the mountain.

Finally, a group of knights stood waiting for her and her escorts, each of them wore different armors and sigils, she walked up to them and stood before the one that looked to be in charge.

"I have come to ask and demand your assistance in the crusade against those from beyond the mountain.' Arturia declared, her eyes letting out a glow as her energy began to surge, next to her men allowed their own strength to surge.

Yet the adventurers didn't move, they simply looked at her and her men before their eyes began to glow and their power matched her own as well as that of her escort.

"Then Negotiations it is." Said the knight wearing the red armor and large white shield.


	59. Chapter 59

The pressure of their presence only increased and the men were already straining, the locals near them were already breaking under the Players and her knights and her presence.

Arturia closed her eyes and slowly calmed herself and began to seal her strength away, the men next to her felt her presence slowly dwindle and so they did the same.

The Players/ Adventurers did the same and began to walk into a large mansion that was nearby.

Arturia could see their backs turned to her and her men and despite her belief that by doing so was foolish, she nonetheless knew that the adventurers must have assassins watching from the shadows and soldiers ready to deal with her and her men, should it be needed.

She began to follow them, the sound of her and her men's armored feet mooving alongside the feet of the adventurers, resembled coins falling on to one another.

Arturia watched as servants served cups filled with wine and each of the adventurers took a drink from each cup before the cups were given to her and her top escorts.

No one bothered to take a seat and one of her men brought up a bag filled with papers, she reached in and began to take out several sheets of paper filled with drawings of things her spies and the shadows had seen.

The pages were handed to separate adventurers, however, none of them reacted to the images in front of them.

[Change Little Fuinger}

He dropped several gold coins on top of one another as the means of his tools practiced nearby.

For a brief moment he was tempted to lower his guard and let Peter out, but to do that left him exposed and if he was exposed something might slip thru and prevent his plans.

Another coin fell and he smiled, Ned Stark didn't even know what was going on and he foolishly believed everyone thought the same way he did. He believed himself to be honorable, but honor is subjective, one can argue about that as much as they want, but all they have to do is look at their forefather and mothers.

Men claim to fight for honor, yet they take the life of other men and bys. Women claim obe honorable for opening their legs and taking children, yet it's their very action that drives other women to suicide.

these things alone may seem like him taking small parts of human actions and spreading them to make others look bad, but one simply has to look and these two examples are more than enough.

A Stark girl went missing taken by one of the men from beyond the wall, only to later be abandoned, her womb carrying his child.

Where was the Starks honer when the boy killed his own father, it didn't matter that the Starks had raised the boy. No, the fact of the matter is, that the man that boy or was it, man, killed his own blood.

Where was their honor then?

Robert Baratheon raised his houses banners and the banners of many others, to fight for a woman that never wanted him.

Yet when it was all said and done, that war left many women, mothers, sisters, and children crying, they had all lost someone or gained someone during all of the fightings.

Where was both houses honer when it was all said and done?

Where was Ned Starks Honer when he hid the fact that his supposed Bastard, is, in fact, his nephew, born thru the union of a prince that thought too highly of himself and a spoiled brat, that opened her legs to a man that simply looked good.

Where was Rober Baratheons honer, when he confessed in a moment of drunken stupidity, that he was aware of the fact, but chose to see the Northern side of the boy, simply because of his old friend, and the woman that never card for him?

Honor?

No there is no such thing, it doesn't exist, just like the coins in his hand its worth is only subjective to the individual.

What good is gold to a man that's unable to buy anything? Put a king in an ocean, and watch as he gladly trades his entire fortune for a single glass of water.

What good is honor to all of those that paid with their lives, they were not the ones remembered by song, nor did they leave anything behind, to be remembered by.

He can feel the warm hands of one of the girls wrap around him, her smell is that of flowers. It almost makes him forget, that she could never count just how many men have spent their time with her.

It's true that he could have left Ned Stark alone and watched as he desperately tried to understand the lands of the south, even as the little people rose around him and strane]gled him and his troops under the weight of heir numbers.

But by doing that he would leave himself exposed.

So now Ned Stark hade no choice but to learn quickly, for even his allies are beginning to turn against him.

Some say that it was too convenient that the moment the Lion was chased out by the wolf, winter had suddenly arrived, almost as if northern magic was in play.

Others talk about their debts and how Tywin Lannister could help them pay off their debts and how the crown was its self completely broke and to think that the hand was naive enough to not realize what he had started by sending the letters north.

Rather than calling those that would be immediately affected by a war between the Lannisters and the Hand, Ned Stark had called to his friends in the North.

While true it took the north longer to gather, right now they were all in one place, happily having their way with each other.

The allies of the crown noticed this immediately and began to wonder what the hand-planned, perhaps he wanted to replace them or set up situations for the men of the north to take more control.

Still, all of these things were things he had to plan for, and it was time to enjoy his latest investment, she was rather young, but...he would enjoy her none the less.

The voices of the women grew as they giggled to themselves, they would all watch as he enjoyed Ned Starks oldest daughter.

Sansa Stark resembled her mother, in fact, she was the very image of her...Oh, how he had loved her and how he hated the fact that he had lost her to the Starks.

The wine was doing its job, he noticed her dress was slightly off from her rightsholder.

Her uncle nearly killed him, when he demanded him to leave Cattalin alone and leave her to him and that man, simply passed her down to Ned Stark after he had nearly killed him and had his fill of her.

Little finger could swear that the memory alone made his scar burn.

He slowly neared the girls' bright red lips and planted his o them, all of the women giggled, they giggled as he moved his hands tracing every curve of the girl's body, they giggled as the girl tried to run away, and they giggled as he trusted and the girl moaned.

Would she carry his child or would he die? That was a question that fell on both sides. Little Finger planted a kiss on Sansa's cheek and looked into the girl's eyes.

He smiled, she knew she was going to escape, her guards were enjoying themselves with his girls after all.

What good was honer?

Was it honorable that he took revenge on the man that enjoyed himself with the woman he loved so long ago, by doing the same to that mans precious niece?

Was it honorable, that he avenged the only person that ever cared for him, by doing the same thing that was done to him, by the hands of the mother, of the man that was now the hand of the king?

No, there was no Honor in any of this, and still, they will all claim there is, after all, they all have their reasons for doing what they did


	60. Chapter 60

Change]

"I'll get straight to the point, we stand next to each other and as a direct result, next to the incoming invasion by those beyond the wall."

"My men have followed and in occasions fought alongside your scouts." Arturia said as the pictures handed to the adventurers showed the various dungeon, towers and battles her spies had seen.

"There are creatures that you and I have never seen before, beyond the mountain and people whose language is strange but can at least be understood"

"Already men flock to your scout's side and to the side of those I have already sent thru, the stories told about their valor and the various battles alongside the protection they provide is only growing."

"...Yet that wall is made of magic stone and various magic carvings, meaning that whoever built it must have a greate Kingdon and even greater army."

the players looked at the drawings and recognized a lot of familiar things, the zombie hordes, the magical dead that could poison everything they touched, the lizardmen and their different kind s of magic arrows.

"Your asking for a lot, right now the scouts are searching for towers, dungeons and trying to map out everything. The reason they're doing this is, that we could, no we will be attacked from both sides the moment we head towards that wall." One of the Players said however Arturia didn't bother to look at who had spoken to her.

"Then perhaps a compromise." Lancelot stepped forward.

"We know that the villages on our side of the wall, are primitive tribes, and only now that the camps of those that have fallen under your scouts or our own scout's banners, have begun to rebuild their ruins and move forward."

"How about this, because of the bridge bones is the only way thru the mountain and we control the exit to our side, we both agree to trade the magic stones your miners have dug up, as well as the products the people on the other side make."

Lancelot said before Arturia began to speak, this extends to those on the other side as well, one side is yours, one side is ours and if possible we will build a third with both mixed in." She said hoping that the players would accept her terms.

"Defenses and materials will be an issue, even now we are still fortifying our defenses, then there will be those that want to see what's on this side of the mountain." Asuna said to Arturia, remembering that her village didn't even have any true walls around it, and the people had to keep killing monsters that wandered to close to it.

"Mercenaries will gladly give their lives for gold or silver" Agravain said as he placed several names in front of the players, names they all recognized.

The room grew quiet and the tension grew "What's really going ? Heathcliff asked Arturia.

"...There have been attacks by shadows and assassins that move in ways that cant be normally detected, they happened long before your scouts passed thru the mountain" Arturia said as a shadow lifted itself next to her and the form of a man kneeling was left.

None of the players moved but their collective eyes hardened.

"From what we learned they can copy the skills of those they have killed.' She explained to the adventurers.

"Deal" They all said at once before the leader of the army began to speak.

"I know how this will sound but this is how we do things, all adventurers are only really loyal to themselves or their guild, so marrying someone to that player, really won't make everyone your ally."

"We won't stop you from having slaved, God knows were already dealing with two wars on the horizon and to add another one is too much of a problem"

"So if they make it to our side they automatically belong to us." he said and no one bothered to argue, they could only retrace the words two wars on the horizon.

The sun began to go down and rooms were offered to everyone, guards tasted and inspected everything to given to them and the king, as well as her guard.

Arturia removed her helmet, finally alone she let her hair fall, she could smell it now, sent of blood, betrayal, but overall death was on the horizon, the problem was she could smell it coming from both the north and the south and yet she could feel it rising from the eat, and the west.

She could hear the winds of winter move and yet for some reason, she could swear that the smell of iron and blood was mixed in with it.

[Change Tyrion Lannister ]

The smell of cheap wine mixed with the smell of cold air, Tyrion watched as his brother attempted to lift his sword, the cold had done a number on him, not to mention his sister, even that spoiled prick of his nephew was nowhere near strong enough to complain about anything.

Still, their heal was returning quickly and they would all soon be ready to make their all to expected pubic appearances.

A servant helped his brother to his seat and Tyrion watched as his older brother struggled to move before a fire in his eyes burned and allowed him to for a brief moment move like if cold hadn't affected him at all.

Yet just as fast as that fire came, it went away.

"Care for a drink." Tyrion said to Jaime as a cup made of glass was filled with hot milk, the milk itself was brown and smelled sweet.

Jaime raised an eyebrow before taking a drink and burning his tung, with the hot milk.

"Apparently those within the mountain discovered that by putting chocolate in milk instead of water ended up with better results, one has to wonder why none of us thought of it before."Tyrion said to Jaime before his brother smiled.

"I would like to see you drinking this with an oversized cup and me with one just as big, it would be like old times." Jaime said to him before the memory of the two sneaking into their father's wine room and drinking themselves to sleep passed by Tyrion's mind.

The two of them began to laugh at the memory of them both thinking that the giant cup in the room was for drinking their fathers' special wine when instead it was used to see the color and used to mix different wines.

Slowly Jaimes smile vanished. "Father wants me to take over...The land...everything belongs to you by right." Jaime told him.

Tyrion could only drink, it was times like these that he was grateful that Jaime was his brother and the two of them could speak to one another without either of them plotting against each other.

"I know, he wants me on the wall, not the one on the north but the one dividing the island from us." Tyrion answered Jaime.

Jaime looked into his eyes the strong man that was known through the seven kingdoms was now gone, what was left was only a sic man.

"I'll do it, you endured fathers" Jaime began but Tyrion stopped him before he could finish.

Tyrion swallowed the last of his wine loudly, and rudely shutting up his brother, and looked back into his elder brothers eyes, as he lowered his cup.

"I've endured more than you can imagine, from father, but you have endured more than I could ever begin to understand from everyone else. People insult me to my face, why they insult you while your back is turned, yet I have taken to bed more woman than you ever could and if you were to ever catch up, you would find that I had already laid even more on my bed."

"What I'm trying to say, brother is that Ill endure and so will you." Tyrion said to Jaime as the voices of their nice and younger nephew reached their ears, the two were loudly laughing with one another.

Jaime closed his eyes knowing what was to come, and Tyrion could only harden his look.

"As long as I'm on that wall they have a place to escape to" Tyrion said as his brothers' eyes had the firelight once more.

'It's going to be a pain finding a wife." Jaime said as a smile grew on his face.

"That's certainly true, you need a wife, a mistress, several attractive servants with attractive daughters and a nice goat to end it all with." Tyrion said to Jaime as he ducked under the table to avoid his brother's hand, the two passed the rest of the day joking with one another, remembering their time as children, and trying to keep the memories of what had recently happened away.


End file.
